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THE 


PURITANS  AND  QUEEN  ELIZABETH 


THE    PURITANS: 


THE    CHURCH,    COURT,    AND    PARLIAMENT 
OF  ENGLAND, 


DURING   THE   REIGNS    OF 


EDWARD  VI.   AND   QUEEN  ELIZABETH, 


BY 


SAMUEL     HOPKINS 


The  Liberties  of  our  House  it  behooveth  us  to  leave  to  our  Posterities  in  the  same 
freedom  we  have  received  them." 

Committee  of  the  Puritan  Commons  to  the  Lords,  1575-6. 


IN     THREE     VOLUMES. 
VOL.    I. 


BOSTON: 
<T  O  U  L  D      AND      LINCOLN, 

59     WASHINGTON      STREET. 

NEW  YORK:  SHELDON  AND  COMPANY. 
CINCINNATI:  GEORGE  S.  BLANCHARD. 

1860. 


1 

V, 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

SAMUEL       HOPKINS, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


University  Press,  Cambridge : 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  and  Company. 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 


To  facilitate  inquiries  which  may  be  raised  respecting 
any  statements  in  the  following  volumes,  I  specify  the  par 
ticular  editions  of  the  most  important  works  to  which  I  have 
referred  as  my  authorities. 

The  few  who  have  ventured  upon  this  wilderness  of  docu 
ments  will  appreciate  the  difficulties  of  my  task,  and  will 
make  due  allowance  for  incidental  errors  into  which  I  may 

have  fallen. 

S.  H. 
NORTHAMPTON  (Mass.),  1859. 


Blackstone's  Commentaries.    "Wendell's  edition.     New  York,  1854. 

Birch,  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  Elizabeth.     2  vols.    4to.   London,  1754. 

Brook,  Lives  of  the  Puritans.    3  vols.     8vo.     London,  1813. 

Butler,  Memoirs  of  English  Catholics.    4  vols.     8vo.     London,  1822. 

Camden,  "  Reign  of  Elizabeth."   Folio.     London,  1675. 

Cabala,  The.  Folio.     London,  1691. 

Carte,  History  of  England.    4  vols.    Folio.     London,  1747,  1750,  1752, 

1755. 
Challoner,  Memoirs  of  Missionary  Priests.   8vo.      Manchester  (Eng.), 

1803. 


vi  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

Coke,  Sir  Edward.  Reports.     Savoy  edition,  1 738. 

Collier,  Church  History.   9  vols.     8vo.     London,  1840. 

Coverdale,  Memorials  of.  Bagster's  edition.     London,  1838. 

D'Aubigne,  History  of  the  Reformation.   5  vols.    12mo.  New  York,  1853. 

D'Ewes,  Journals  of  Parliament.    Folio.     London,  1682. 

Digges,  Complete  Ambassador.     Folio.     London,  1655. 

Disraeli,  Curiosities  of  Literature.   Philadelphia,  1838. 

Echard,  History  of  England.   Folio.     London,  1707. 

Ellis,  Collection  of  Letters.     London,  1824  - 1827. 

Forbes,  State  Papers.     London,  1 740. 

Fox,  Acts  and  Monuments.     3  vols.     Folio.     London,  1641. 

Fragmenta  Regalia.     By  Sir  Robert  Naunton,  in  the  "  Phoenix." 

Fuller,  Worthies.   3  vols.    8vo.     London,  1840. 

"      Church  History.   Folio.     London,  1655. 

"      Abel  Redivivus.  London,  1652. 

"      Holy  State.    Folio.     Cambridge  (Eng.),  1642. 
Hallam,  Constitutional  History  of  England.     New  York,  1851. 
Hanbury,  Memorials.     2  vols.     8vo.     London,  1839. 
Hardwicke,  State  Papers.     3  vols.     4to.     London,  1778. 
Hargrave,  State  Trials.     9  vols.     Folio.     London,  1776-1778. 
Harleian  Miscellanies.     9  vols.     4to.     London,  1774. 
Harrington,  Nugae  Antiquae.     2  vols.     8vo.     London,  1804. 
Hatton,  Sir  Christopher,  Life  and  Tunes  of.    By  Sir  Harris  Nicholas.   8vo. 

London,  1847. 

Haynes,  State  Papers.     Folio.     London.     1 740. 
Hayward,  Sir  John,  Annals  of   Elizabeth.     Camden   Society's  edition. 

London,  1840. 
Heylin,  History  of  the  Reformation.     Folio. 

"       History  of  the  Presbyterians.     Folio.     London,  1672. 
Holingshed,  Chronicles.     4  vols.     4to.     London,  1808. 
Howell,  State  Trials.     21  vols.     8vo.     London,  1816. 


PREFATORY  NOTE.  vii 

Hume,  History  of  England.     4  vols.     8vo.     Philadelphia,  1821. 
Lingard,  History  of  England.     13  vols.     12mo.     Boston,  1855. 
Lloyd,  State  Worthies.     12mo.     London,  1670. 
Lodge,  Illustrations  of  British  History.     3  vols.     4to.     London,  1791. 
Mackay  Charles,  "  Memoirs  of  Popular  Delusions."    London,  1852. 
McCrie,  Life  of  Knox.    Philadelphia,  edition  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Publication.    No  date. 

Melvill,  Sir  James,  Memoirs.     8vo.     Edinburgh,  1735. 

Mosheim,  Ecclesiastical  History.     6  vols.     8vo.     Philadelphia,  1798. 

Murdin,  State  Papers.     Folio.     London,  1759. 

Neal,  History  of  the  Puritans.     2  vols.     8vo.     New  York,  1844. 

Osborne,  Traditional  Memorials  of  the  Reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James. 

Edinburgh,  1811. 

Paule,  Sir  George,  Life  of  Whitgift.     4to.     London,  1613. 
Peck,  Desiderata  Curiosa.     London,  1732. 
Persons,  The  Jesuit's  Memorial.     Edited  by  Edward  Gee. 
Pierce,  Vindication.     12mo.     London,  1718. 
Rapin,  History  of  England. 

Sidney,  State  Papers.     (CoUins's  Collection.)     Folio.     London,  1746. 
Sparrow's  Collections.     London,  1684. 
Statutes  of  the  Realm.     Tomlin's  edition.     London,  1819. 
Stow,  Annals.     Howe's  Continuation.     Folio.     London,  1631. 

"     Survey  of  London.     4to.     1618. 
Strype,  Annals.     7  vols.     8vo.     Oxford,  1824. 

"       Memorials.     6  vols.     8vo.     Oxford,  1822. 

lk       Life  of  Cranmer.     FoHo.     London,  1695. 

"       Life  of  Parker.     Folio.     London,  1 740. 

"       Life  of  Grindal.     Folio.     London,  1710. 

"       Life  of  Aylmer.     12mo.     London,  1701. 

"       Life  of  Whitgift.     Folio.     London,  1718. 

"       Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith.     12mo.     London,  1698. 
VOL.  i.  & 


Viii  PREFATORY  NOTE. 

Taylor,  William  Cook,  "  Romantic  Biography  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth." 

Philadelphia,  1842. 

The  Phoenix.     2  vols.     12mo.     London,  1707,  1708. 
The  Troubles  at  Frankfort.     8vo.     London,  1846. 
Warner,  Ecclesiastical  History.     2  vols.    Folio.     London,  1759. 
Wotton's  Reliquiae.     London,  1685. 

Wood,  Athenae  Oxoniensis.    4  vols.     4to.     London,  1815. 
Wright,   Queen  Elizabeth  and  her   Times.      2  vols.     8vo.     London, 

1838. 
Zurich  Letters.    By  the  Parker  Society.     Second  Edition,  in  distinction 

from  Second  Series. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

EDWARD   THE   SIXTH.     (A.  D.  1549.) 

THE  YOUNG  KING.  —  THE  LORD  PROTECTOR«*=-THE  INSURRECTIONS.  —  THE 
NEW  PREACHER 1 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE  REFORMATION.     (A. D.  1350-1550.) 

ITS  ORIGIN.  —  THE  STATUTE  OF  PR.EMUNIRE.  —  THE  SEPARATION  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  CHURCH.  —  THE  SUPREMACY.  —  "  THE  Six  ARTICLES."  —  THE 
ACCESSION  OF  EDWARD  VI.  —  CHURCH  REFORM.  —  INNOVATION  DISLIKED.  14 

CHAPTER    III. 
THE  FIRST  PURITAN.    (A.  D.  1550,  1551.) 

HOOPER  APPOINTED  BISHOP.  —  OBJECTS  TO  THE  MODE  OF  CONSECRATION.  — 
SUMMONED  BEFORE  THE  COUNCIL.  —  OBJECTS  TO  THE  OATH  OF  SUPREM 
ACY. —  His  OBJECTION  ALLOWED.  —  OBJECTS  TO  THE  EPISCOPAL  GAR 
MENTS. —  ARCHBISHOP  CRANMER.  —  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  GARMENTS 
DISCUSSED.  —  HOOPER'S  OBJECTION  DISALLOWED  BY  THE  BISHOPS.  —  THE 
CONTROVERSY  is  EXTENDED.  —  HOOPER  RESTRAINED  FROM  PREACHING.  — 

IS   CONFINED   TO   HIS    HOUSE.  —  Is  COMMITTED  TO  CRANMER'S  CUSTODY. — 

Is  SENT  TO  PRISON.  —  PLOTS  AGAINST  HIS  LIFE.  —  THE  DIFFERENCE  COM 
PROMISED.  —  HOOPER    CONSECRATED.  —  HOOPER    IN    HIS    BISHOPRIC,  AND 

IN  HIS  FAMILY 28 

CHAPTER     IV. 

THE  MARIAN  EXILES.    (A.  D.  1554.) 

THE  HANSE  TOWNS.  —  EXILES  ARRIVE  AT  FRANKFORT.  —  THEIR  KIND  RE 
CEPTION.  —  CHARACTER  AND  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  VI.  —  FURTHER  REFORM 


CONTENTS. 


DURING  HIS  REIGN.  —  VALEKAN  POLAN  AND  WHITTINGHAM.  —  ESCAPE  OF 
THE  PARTY  FROM  ENGLAND.  —  VALERAN  OFFERS  HIS  SERVICES.  —  A 
PLACE  OF  WORSHIP  SECURED  TO  THE  STRANGERS.  —  THE  LUTHERANS  AB 
HOR  THE  ENGLISH.  —  CALVINISTS  WELCOME  THEM.  —  CONTRIBUTIONS  FOR 
THE  EXILES.  —  THEY  WRITE  TO  THEIR  FELLOW-EXILES.  —  JOHN  KNOX. — 
LOWERING  CLOUDS.  —  DEPUTATION  FROM  STRASBURG.  —  GRINDAL  AND 
KNOX  DISCUSS  KING  EDWARD'S  BOOK. 56 


CHAPTER     V. 
THE   TEOUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.     (A.  D.  1554,  1555.) 

CALVIN  ON  THE  ENGLISH  BOOK.  —  ADVISES  MUTUAL  YIELDING.  —  STRIFES. 

—  AGREEMENT.  —  DR.  Cox  ARRIVES.  —  DISTURBS  THE^  WORSHIP.  —  THE 
PULPIT  USURPED,  AND  THE  CONGREGATION  TAUNTED.  •*—  KNOX  REBUKES 
THE  PROCEEDING,  AND  JUSTIFIES  HIMSELF.  —  Cox  AND  HIS  PARTY  AD 
MITTED  TO  VOTE.  —  THEY  ADOPT  THE  ENGLISH  BOOK.  —  THE  MAGIS 
TRATES  ENFORCE  THE  FRENCH  ORDER.  —  KNOX  CHARGED  WITH  TREASON. 

—  HE    IS    ADVISED    TO    LEAVE.  —  HlS    DEPARTURE.  —  THE    ENGLISH    LlT- 
URGY    BROUGHT    IN    BY    ARTIFICE.  —  TlIE    ORIGINAL    CONGREGATION    DIS 
PERSE  TO  OTHER  CITIES.  .     88 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE  ACCESSION,  AND  FIRST  PARLIAMENT,  OF  ELIZABETH. 
(A.D.  1558,1559.) 

THE  DEATH  OF  MARY.  —  ELIZABETH  PROCLAIMED.  —  HER  ADDRESS  TO  THE 
COUNCIL.  —  HER  FIRST  CABINET.  —  HER  PERSON.  —  HER  PUBLIC  COURTE 
SIES. —  THE  FUNERAL  SERMON. — INDICATIONS  OF  A  CHANGE  OF  RELIG 
ION.  —  PARLIAMENT  ASSEMBLE.  —  THE  LORD  KEEPER'S  SPEECH.  —  SPEAK 
ER  OF  THE  COMMONS  ELECTED;  "DISABLED";  "ALLOWED."  —  POSITION 
OF  THE  CROWN.  —  THE  COMMONS  PETITION  THE  QUEEN  TO  MARRY.  —  HER 
ANSWER.  —  THE  ACT  OF  SUPREMACY.  —  THE  ACT  OF  UNIFORMITY.  .  116 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.    (A.  D.  1559. 

THE  SUPREMACY.  —  PROTESTANT  WORSHIP  REVIVED.  —  COMMISSIONERS  EM 
POWERED.  —  BISHOPS  DEPOSED.  —  OLD  THEATRICALS.  —  BARTHOLOMEW'S 
FAIR.  — THE  PURGING  OF  THE  CHURCHES.  —  THE  NIGHT  FESTIVAL.— 
THE  COURTIER  IN  HIS  CHAMBER .148 


CONTENTS.  Xi 

CHAPTER     VIII. 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT.    (A.D.  1559.) 

PAUL'S  CROSS.  —  FATHER  COVERDALE. —  DAVID  WHITEHEAD. —  SUNDAY 
TRAFFIC.  —  THE  CHANGES  IN  THE  LITURGY.  —  SIR  FRANCIS  KNOLLYS.  — 
EGBERT,  LORD  DUDLEY.  —  THE  QUEEN'S  TENDERNESS  FOR  PAPACY. — 
HER  REASONS  FOR  IT.  —  HER  DISLIKE  OF  THE  FRANKFORT  EXILES,  HOW 
EXCITED.  —  "  SEMPER  EADEM."  —  THE  DISLIKE  OF  THE  VESTMENTS,  AND 
OF  THE  SUPREMACY.  —  THE  POSITION  OF  KNOLLYS  AND  DUDLEY.  —  THE 
NEW  HIERARCHY. —  THE  "  OLD  PRIESTS."  —  SCARCITY  OF  CLERGY.  .  .  168 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  KNOUT.    (A.D.  1563-1566.) 

THE  ORNAMENTS  OF  RELIGION  DISLIKED.  —  THE  PLAGUE  IN  LONDON.  — 
GRINDAL,  BISHOP  OF  LONDON,  OFFERS  A  BISHOPRIC  TO  COVERDALE.  PRO 
CURES  FOR  HIM  THE  LlVING  OF  ST.  MAGNUS.  —  NON-CONFORMITY.  —  THE 

QUEEN  ORDERS  IT  TO  BE  CORRECTED.  —  THE  BOOK  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS. 
—  DISSENTERS  CALLED  PURITANS.  —  THE  BOOK  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS  CON 
FIRMED.  —  UNIFORMITY  PRESSED.  —  JOHN  Fox.  —  CLERGY  SUSPENDED.  .  205 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.    (A.  D.  1566.) 

LEICESTER'S  POSITION  AT  COURT.  —  His  WIFE  MURDERED.  —  His  "  RELIG 
IOUS  STYLE  OR  PHRASE  "  SHOWN  IN  HIS  INTERVIEW  WITH  DR.  CHADER- 
TON.  —  WHITEHEAD  AND  THE  BISHOP  OF  DURHAM  INTERCEDE  WITH  HIM 
FOR  TOLERATION,  AND  AGAINST  COMPULSION.  —  SEPARATE  WORSHIP  IN 
PROSPECT.  —  LEICESTER  AND  LADY  SHEFFIELD 242 

CHAPTER     XI. 
THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566. 

THE  QUEEN  AT  GREENWICH.  —  BIRTH  OF  JAMES  OF  SCOTLAND.  —  How  RE 
GARDED  IN  ENGLAND.  —  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  SUCCESSION  PROPOSED 
BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS  IN  1562-3.  —  THE  LORDS  OF  COUNCIL  NOW 

URGE  IT  UPON  THE  QUEEN.  —  HER  ANSWER.  —  TlIE  SUBJECT  AGITATED  IN 

THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  WHO  RESOLVE  TO  PRESS  IT  UPON  THE  QUEEN.  — 
HER  INDIGNATION.  —  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS  ADDRESS 

HER. —  SHE  ANGRILY  RESENTS  THEIR  INTERFERENCE.  —  THE  LORD  KEEP 
ER  ADDRESSES  HER  IN  BEHALF  OF  BOTH  HOUSES.  —  SHE  SENDS  ANSWER 


CONTENTS. 


TO  THE  COMMONS,  THAT  THE  TIME  WILL  NOT  SUFFER  TO  TREAT  OF  THE 
SUCCESSION.  —  THE  COMMONS  RESUME  THE  SUBJECT.  —  THE  QUEEN  FOR 
BIDS  THE  DISCUSSION.  —  THE  COMMONS  RESENT  THE  INHIBITION,  AND 
"TWIT  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  QUEEN."  —  A  SECOND  INHIBITION.  —  THE 
COMMONS  PERSIST.  —  THE  QUEEN  RETRACTS.  —  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 
PARLIAMENT,  SHE  REBUKES  AND  THREATENS.  —  PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED.  274 


CHAPTER     XII. 

THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.    ( A.  D.  1566,  1567.) 

THE  QUESTION  OF  SEPARATE  WORSHIP  OPENED.  —  RESTRAINT  UPON  THE 
PRESS.  —  SEPARATION  DISCUSSED.  —  RESOLVED  UPON.  —  CONVENTICLES. 
—  THE  QUEEN  INCENSED.  —  THE  CONGREGATION  IN  THE  HALL  OF  THE 
PLUMBERS  ARRESTED.  —  THE  EXAMINATION.  —  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 
CLAIMED.  —  PRISONERS  SENT  TO  BRIDEWELL.  —  THE  CHURCH  ESTAB 
LISHMENT  SHAPED  TO  WIN  THE  CATHOLICS. OBJECTIONS  TO  SUCH  A 

PLATFORM.  —  EXPULSION  OF  NON-CONFORMISTS  FROM  THE  OFFICES  OF 
THE  CHURCH  JUSTIFIABLE  —  ECCLESIASTICALLY.  —  PUNISHMENT  FOR 
PREACHING  JUSTIFIABLE  —  LEGALLY.  —  FOLLY  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  PRE 
CISIANISM  AND  COMPULSION.  —  THE  RIGHT  TO  MAKE  LAWS  INVOLVES  THE 
RIGHT  TO  PUNISH.  —  THE  DOGMA  OF  "  CHURCH  AND  STATE."  .  302 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

«» 

THE  PAPALLNS.    (A.  D.  1560-1570.) 

THE  POPE  GRANTS  DISPENSATIONS  TO  PREACH  HERESY.  —  PAPIST  PRIESTS 
TURN  PURITAN  PREACHERS.  —  THE  PAPAL  COUNCIL  ADVISE  THE  ASSIGN 
MENT  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CROWN,  A  PREMIUM  FOR  THE  ASSASSINATION  OF 
ELIZABETH,  AND  A  MORE  EXTENSIVE  LICENSE  FOR  HYPOCRISY  AND  PER 
JURY.  —  BULL  AGAINST  HERETICS  GENERALLY.  —  A  NEW  IRRUPTION  OF 
DISGUISED  PRIESTS.  —  ONE  OF  THEM  EXECUTED.  —  THE  CATHOLICS  BEGIN 
TO  SECEDE.  —  THE  HOLY  LEAGUE  FOR  THE  EXTERMINATION  OF  PROTES 
TANTS.  —  SEMINARIES  FOR  MISSIONARY  PRIESTS.  —  A  DOMICILIARY  VISIT 
TO  JOHN  STOW,  THE  ANNALIST.  —  FUNERAL  OF  COVERDALE.  —  FUNERAL 
OF  BONNER.  —  MARY,  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS,  IMPRISONED  IN  ENGLAND.  —  THE 
NORTHERN  INSURRECTION.  —  THE  PAPAL  BULL  OF  EXCOMMUNICATION 
AGAINST  ELIZABETH 335 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571. 

RELIGIOUS  AFFAIRS.  — HER  MAJESTY'S  PROGRESS  TO  THE  PARLIAMENT- 
HOUSE. —  PARLIAMENT  OPENED.  —  THE  COMMONS  FORBIDDEN  TO  ORIGI 
NATE  MATTERS  OF  STATE.  —  STRICKLAND  INTRODUCES  A  BILL  FOR 


CONTENTS.  Xiii 

REFORMATION  IN  THE  CHURCH.  —  DEBATE  UPON  IT.  —  RESOLVE  TO  PETI 
TION  HER  MAJESTY  FOR  LEAVE  TO  PROCEED  THEREIN.  —  STRICKLAND 
DETAINED  FROM  THE  HOUSE.  —  HlS  DETENTION  RESENTED  BY  THE  COM- 
MONS  AS  A  BREACH  OF  PRIVILEGE.  —  SPIRITED  DEBATE.  —  THE  RIGHTS 
OF  THE  CROWN  QUESTIONED.  —  DEBATE  SUSPENDED.  —  STRICKLAND  RE 
APPEARS.  —  A  PROTEST  AGAINST  MONOPOLIES.  —  THE  PROTESTER  AND 
THE  COMMONS  SCARED.  —  THEY  RECOVER  FROM  THEIR  FRIGHT.  —  PE 
TER  WENTWORTH  —  FOR  THE  DIGNITY  OF  THE  HOUSE  AND  LIBERTY  OF 
SPEECH.  —  BILL  TO  REQUIRE  PROTESTANT  COMMUNION.  —  DEBATED.  — 
RETROSPECTIVE  LAW.  — WENTWORTH' s  PROTEST  AGAINST  POPE-BISHOPS. 
—  BILLS  FOR  REFORMATION  LOST.  —  AN  ACT  FOR  THE  SAFETY  OF  THE 
QUEEN'S  MAJESTY.  —  AN  ACT  AGAINST  PAPAL  BULLS  AND  OTHER  SUPER 
STITIOUS  THINGS  FROM  ROME.  —  AN  ACT  TO  REFORM  DISORDERS  TOUCH 
ING  MINISTERS.  —  THE  COMMONS  PETITION  FOR  REDRESS  OF  ABUSES  IN 
THE  CHURCH.  —  THE  COMMONS  REBUKED,  AND  THE  PARLIAMENT  DIS 
SOLVED .'  .367 


CHAPTER    XV. 
THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572. 

A  PURITAN  PETITION  TO  THE  CONVOCATION  OF  1571  REJECTED.  —  NEW 
CANONS  FOR  ENFORCING  UNIFORMITY.  —  THE  STATUTE  13  ELIZ.  CAP.  XII. 

STRAINED  TO  ENFORCE  SUBSCRIPTION.  —  ORDER  FROM  THE  O.UEEN  TO  EN 
FORCE  EXACT  UNIFORMITY.  —  EJECTED  MINISTERS  PREACH.  —  THOMAS 
CARTWRIGHT  OPPUGNS  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  ANGLICAN  CHURCH.  — 
DRIVEN  FROM  CAMBRIDGE.  —  FIELD  AND  WILCOX  RESOLVE  TO  PETITION 
PARLIAMENT.  —  PARLIAMENT  ASSEMBLE,  MAY  STII.  —  FOREIGN  PLOT  FOR 
INVASION  AND  REVOLUTION.  —  ALARM  OF  THE  NATION.  —  "THE  GREAT 
CAUSE"  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  —  ELIZABETH  OBJECTS  TO  PROCEED 
INGS  AGAINST  HER  IN  THE  DEGREE  OF  TREASON.  —  BOTH  HOUSES  DISSENT 

FROM  THE  QUEEN.  —  THE  REASONS  FOR  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  PARLIA 
MENT  AGAINST  MARY.  —  ELIZABETH  DESIRES  ANOTHER  BILL.  —  THE  PAR 
LIAMENT  SUDDENLY  ADJOURNED  BY  THE  QUEEN.  —  BlLLS  IN  THE  COMMONS 

"FOR  RITES  AND  CEREMONIES."  —  THE  QUEEN  DEMANDS  THEM.  —  HER 
MAJESTY  HERSELF  THE  DEFENDER  OF  THE  FAITH 404 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.    (A.  D.  1572.) 

THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERY.  —  A  PURITAN  REPLY  TO  A  BISHOP'S  DEFENCE  OF 
THE  CHURCH.  —  FIELD  AND  WILCOX  IMPRISONED.  —  THEIR  CONFERENCE 
WITH  THE  ARCHBISHOP'S  CHAPLAIN.  —  WHITGIFT'S  ANSWER  TO  THE  AD 
MONITION.  —  CARTWRIGHT  PUBLISHES  A  SECOND  ADMONITION,  AND  A 
REPLY  TO  WHITGIFT'S  ANSWER,  —  THEIR  CONTROVERSY.  —  THE  QUEEN'S 
PROCLAMATION  AGAINST  THE  ADMONITION,  AND  CARTWRIGHT'S  REPLY.  — 
THE  ALARM  OF  THE  PRECISIAN  PRELATES.  —  SUBSCRIPTION  ENFORCED 


CONTENTS. 


THROUGHOUT  THE    KINGDOM.  —  THE    MASSACRE   ON    ST.   BARTHOLOMEW'S 

DAY  IN  PARIS.  —  REJOICINGS  AT  ROME.  —  EFFECT  OF  THE  MASSACRE  IN 
ENGLAND.  —  THE  CONDITION  OF  RELIOJON 437 


CHAPTER     XVII. 

"PRETTY  BRISK."  — ARCHBISHOP  PARKER.  ( A  D.  1573.) 

REASONS  FOR  DISCIPLINING  PURITANS,  AND  REASONINGS  AGAINST  THEM.  — 
THE  ARCHBISHOP'S  PERPLEXITIES.  —  PERSECUTION  FOR  OPINIONS  OPENED. 

—  THE  NEW  "  FANTASIES  "  SPREAD.  —  PROCLAMATION  FOR  ENFORCING 
THE  ACT  OF  UNIFORMITY.  —  NEW  ECCLESIASTICAL  COMMISSION.  —  THE 
COUNCIL  REBUKE  THE  BlSHOPS  FOR  SLACKNESS.  —  CHARGE  TO  THE  COM 
MISSIONERS. —  LORD   BURLEIGH'S   POSITION.  —  TESTS    IMPOSED   BY   THE 
COMMISSIONERS.  —  MINISTERS  SILENCED  AND  IMPRISONED.  —  "  THE  PHY 
SICIANS  THEMSELVES  SICK." 467 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THINKING.    (A.  D.  1573, 1574.) 

EDWARD  DEERING,  A  CONFORMING  PURITAN,  PUNISHED  FOR  HIS  OPINIONS. 

—  BISHOP  SANDYS  INTERCEDES  FOR  HIS  RESTORATION.  —  HE  is  RESTORED, 

AND   AGAIN   SILENCED.  —  HE   IS   PUT   UNDER   INQUISITION  FOR  WORDS  AND 

THOUGHTS.  —  His  LETTER  TO  BURLEIGH  AGAINST  THE  LORDSHIP  OF  BISH 
OPS.  —  DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  BISHOPS  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH  AND 
THOSE  OF  THE  ANGLICAN.  —  MR.  DEERING'S  ANSWER  TO  CHARGES  FOR 
WORDS  SPOKEN.  —  His  REPLY  TO  INTERROGATORIES  FROM  THE  BISHOPS  ; 
AND  TO  TWENTY  ARTICLES  PROPOUNDED  BY  THE  LORDS.  —  THEIR  ANTI- 
DESPOTIC  OPINIONS,  THE  TRUE  OFFENCE  OF  THE  PURITANS.  .  .  .500 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.    (AD.  1574,1575.) 

A  SICK  PRISONER.  —  His  CRIMES  AGAINST  PRECISIANISM.  —  His  EXAMINA 
TION.  —  A  NICE  POINT  CANVASSED.  —  RAILING  vs.  SCRIPTURE.  —  THE  SICK 

MAN    REMANDED    TO    PRISON.  —  DlES,    FROM  WANT   AND  CONFINEMENT. — 

THE  PRIMATE'S  SEVERITIES  EXCITE  DISGUST.  —  His  VINDICATION  OF  HIM 
SELF.  —  His  DEATH. 526 


THE    PURITANS. 


CHAPTEK    I. 


EDWAKD   THE    SIXTH. 


THE  YOUNG  KING.  —  THE  LORD  PROTECTOR.  —  THE  INSURRECTIONS.  —  THE 
NEW  PREACHER. 

1549. 


UPON  the  manor  of  Hampton  Court,  about  fifteen 
miles  from  London,  the  Lord  Cardinal  Wolsey,  when 
in  his  prime  of  pride  and  power,  erected  a  mag 
nificent  palace,  designing  it  for  his  retreat  from 
the  cares  of  state.  But  in  1526,  to  forestall  de 
traction  and  disarm  envy,  he  presented  it  to  his 
royal  master,  Henry  VIII.1  Beyond  the  artistic 
grounds  which  immediately  surrounded  the  man 
sion  lay  an  extensive  park,  pleasantly  diversified 
with  hill  and  valley,  glade  and  forest,  and  reveal 
ing,  at  many  points,  the  bright  surface  of  the 
Thames,  which  just  there  makes  a  large  and  grace 
ful  curve  southward. 

On  one  of  the  last  days  of  August,  1549,  while 
yet  the  fog  lay  upon  the  river  below,  and  the 
turf  was  brilliant  with  dew,  a  party  of  mounted 
gentlemen  issued  from  the  wood  upon  a  rising 
ground  which  commanded  some  of  the  best  points 

1  Stow's  Annals,  525. 

VOL.   I.  1 


2  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  [Cn.  I. 

of  this  rural  landscape.  They  were  evidently  of 
knightly  rank,  for  there  were  golden  spurs  there; 
while  embroidered  housings,  rich  mantles,  and  glitter 
ing  jewels  bespoke  them  of  the  royal  household. 
The  most  conspicuous  were  two  persons  in  whose 
rear  the  others  rode,  as  if  in  respectful  attendance, 
and  with  whose  conversation  we  introduce  our 
narrative. 

The  one  was  a  man  in  middle  life,  muscular, 
erect,  and  well-proportioned ;  his  complexion  bronzed 
by  exposure ;  his  features  somewhat  stern  in  repose, 
but  lively  and  pleasing  when  roused  by  conver 
sation  ;  whose  whole  port,  as  well  as  the  ease  with 
which  he  controlled  his  steed,  would  have  led  even 
a  careless  observer  to  suppose  him  not  only  a  gal 
lant  courtier,  but  a  war-worn  soldier. 

The  other  was  a  youth  of  less  than  twelve  years ; 
his  body  and  limbs,  though  slender,  remarkable  for 
their  symmetry,  and  indicating  agility  rather  than 
strength;  his  countenance  beaming  with  intelli 
gence  ;  his  eyes  lustrous,  lively,  and  commanding, 
though  not  imperious  in  their  expression ;  and  his 
whole  face  denoting  a  spirit  too  ardent,  too  aspir 
ing,  too  full  of  restless  loving-kindness  for  the  body 
in  which  it  dwelt.1  Upon  his  spirited  jennet  —  a 
creature  of  the  Andalusian  breed  —  his  person  was 
displayed  to  great  advantage  ;  and  the  morning  air 
and  brisk  exercise  had  given  a  glow  to  his  usually 
pallid  cheek,  which  perfected  his  youthful  beauty. 
Pointing,  as  they  emerged  from  the  cover  of  the 
wood,  to  the  noble  palace  but  a  short  distance 
below,  he  uttered  an  exclamation  of  gladness,  and 

1  Rapin,  II.  26,  note.     Carte,  III.  279,  280. 


CH.  I.]  EDWARD  THE   SIXTH.  3 

added  :  "  Marry !  my  lord  Duke,  this  hath  been  a 
dashing  ride,  and  hath  whetted  our  appetite  to  a 
marvel.  An  we  find  not  stout  trencher-fare  await- 
ing  us,  we'll  e'en  remember  it  against  you  when 
we  quit  our  leading-strings." 

"  Prithee,  my  gracious  liege ! "  replied  the  other, 
raising  his  plumed  cap,  "hold  me  not  answerable 
for  trencher-furnishings." 

"  For  everything  within  our  realms ;  from  a  bish 
op's  mitre  to  the  peeling  of  an  onion." 

"  I  cry  you  mercy !  "  exclaimed  the  cavalier ;  "  your 
Highness  would  not  have  me  a  scullion ! " 

"So  much  for  being  Lord  Protector,"  gayly  re 
sponded  the  youth.  "The  burden  with  the  honor, 
uncle  mine.  An  you  rouse  our  stomach  in  such  a 
fashion  of  a  morning,  why  not  answer  for  our  feed 
ing  ?  In  some  places  our  private  journal  shall  read, 
'  My  Lord  Somerset  hath  credit  for  such  a  thing ' ; 
that  will  be  when  he  behaveth  well.  And  anon, 
perchance,  'My  Lord  Somerset  my  debtor  for  such 
a  thing ' ;  that  will  be  when  he  doth  not  something 
he  ought,  or  doth  something  naughty.  Then,"  — 
and  with  a  look  half  serious,  half  boyish,  he  pointed 
his  gloved  finger  at  the  Duke,  —  "when  we  can 
count  eighteen  years  of  life,  we  shall  know  how 
weigheth  my  lord  in  the  balance.  The  Lord  Pro 
tector  should  take  heed  to  his  ways." 

Playfully  as  this  was  spoken,  the  fresh  color  ex 
cited  by  the  morning's  ride  faded  upon  Somerset's 
cheek,  and  his  eye  for  an  instant  fell;  a  change 
which  the  young  King  Edward  noticed,  but  instantly 
forgot,  until  not  many  weeks  afterwards  it  recurred 
to  his  mind  and  was  understood. 


4  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  [Cn.  I. 

The  laboring  classes  in  the  kingdom  had  lately 
been  driven  to  great  straits  by  the  selfish  measures 
of  the  nobles,  and  had  risen  in  arms  demanding 
redress;  in  some  sections  instigated,  and  inflamed 
to  the  greatest  insolence,  by  the  arts  of  their  Romish 
priests.  The  insurrections  had  been  suppressed  at 
the  cost  of  considerable  blood.  The  sympathies  of 
the  Duke  had  been  with  the  people,  —  not  for  their 
mistaken  fanaticism,  but  for  their  sufferings,  —  al 
though,  as  in  duty  bound,  he  had  sent  forces  against 
them.  He  had  just  granted,  on  his  sole  authority, 
a  pardon  to  all  concerned  in  the  commotions,  except 
ing  only  a  few  of  their  leaders.  This  grace,  and  his 
disposition  to  redress  the  popular  grievances,  had 
inflamed  the  nobles  against  him;  and  he  well  knew 
that  they  would  shrink  from  no  libels  to  effect  his 
ruin.1  It  was  the  knowledge  of  this  which,  to  his 
ear,  rendered  the  light  and  guileless  words  of  his  un 
suspecting  sovereign  oracular  of  evil,  and  produced 
the  emotion  so  visible  upon  his  countenance.  But, 
disdaining  all  allusion  to  charges  yet  unspoken,  and 
recovering  himself  by  a  strong  effort,  he  said  calmly, 
"Your  Majesty's  journal!  I  did  not  know  —  " 

"  Tush,  uncle !  We  make  no  doubt  that  your 
love  will  compel  us  to  make  fair  entries." 

Somerset  acknowledged  his  royal  nephew's  com 
pliment,  and  replied  heartily,  "By  my  troth!  an 
deeds  can  keep  pace  with  devotion,  and  a  subject 
overdo  loyalty,  I  shall  be  largely  credited,  I  ween, 
when  your  Majesty  cometh  to  your  majority. 


»  2 


1  Fox,  II.  665.  Stow,  596,  597.  2  Edward  VI.,  by  direction  of  his 
Strype's  Cranmer,  185.  Lodge,  I.  tutor,  Mr.  John  Cheeke,  afterwards 
131.  Rapin,  II.  15,  16.  knighted,  kept  a  private  journal  — 


CH.  I.]  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  5 

"  God  help  us  in  that  day ! "  exclaimed  the  young 
king  with  great  solemnity.  "How  we  lack  wisdom 
to  rule  so  great  a  people !  to  settle  all  these  affairs 
about  religion,  too  !  and  to  do  it  well !  How  can  we 
get  it  in  six  short  years?  God  help  us!  God  help 
us ! "  and  he  pressed  his  hand  to  his  brow  as  if 
pained  with  thought.  "This  religion/'  he  resumed 
after  a  moment's  pause,  "the  speaking  of  it  re- 
mindeth  us  of  your  chaplain,  Doctor  Hooper,1 
preaching  now  in  London.  You  did  say  yester- 
eve,  that  he  is  a  hater  of  Popery  and  of  the  Six 
Articles,  and  zealous  for  the  reforming  of  religion. 
We  marvel  that  such  an  one  should  travail  for  Christ 
in  our  own  realm  and  be  unknown  to  us.  Tell  us  of 
him,  good  my  lord  Duke." 

"  In  troth,  your  Majesty,2  he  be  but  a  new  man  in 
England,  albeit  he  be  English  born  and  English  bred. 
He  was  an  Oxford  scholar  when  the  statute  of  the 
Six  Articles  was  passed,  ten  years  sithence ;  a  zealous 
man  and  a  bold  for  a  reformation  in  the  Church; 
and  —  so  it  is  bruited  —  did  use  strong  speech 
against  the  Articles.  Whether  he  did  or  no,  he 

still  extant  —  of  all  matters  of  in-  l  Burnet,  II.  245.  Parker  Soci- 
terest  to  himself;  but  particularly  ety's  Biog.  Notice  of  Hooper,  p.  x. 
of  the  doings  and  debates  of  the  Neal,  L  52,  note. 
Council,  the  despatch  of  ambassa-  2  "  Henry  VIII.  says  Houssaie, 
dors,  honors  conferred,  &c.  Biog.  was  the  first  who  assumed  the  ti- 
Brit.,  II.  1311,  and  note  D.  Bur-  tie  of  'Highness';  and  at  length 
net  (Vol.  II.  p.  251)  says  that  this  'Majesty.'" — D'Israeli's  Curiosities 
journal  was  commenced  in  1550  ;  of  of  Literature,  p.  48.  "  The  title  of 
course  not  in  existence  at  the  time  *  Majesty '  is  given  to  Henry  II.  in 
stated  in  the  text.  But  Strype  two  passages  of  '  The  Black  Book 
(Life  of  Cranmer,  298)  says,  "  writ  Exchequer ' ;  the  most  ancient  in- 
all  with  his  own  hand,  from  the  be-  stances  I  have  met  with."  —  Lin- 
ginning  of  his  reign,  1547,  until  28  gard,  VI.  371,  note. 
Nov.  1552."  See  also  Fox,  II.  653. 


6  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  [Cn.  I. 

did  fall  eftsoons  into  displeasure  and  hatred  of  cer 
tain  Kabbins  there,  and  most  of  Doctor  Smith, 
professor  of  divinity;  who,  by  and  by,  began  to 
stir  coals  against  him,  whereby  he  was  compelled 
to  void  the  University.1  Shall  I  tell  all  his  adven 
tures,  my  liege?" 

"Ay,  all,  all.  You  know  we  take  note  of  every 
magistrate  and  gentleman  who  beareth  office  or 
authority  in  our  realm,  even  to  their  names,  conver 
sation,  and  housekeeping,  to  the  intent  we  may 
know  their  worthiness  or  unworthiness.2  How  much 
more  doth  it  behoove  us  to  take  note,  and  to  know 
well,  of  our  clergy.  Tell  all,  my  lord." 

"Master  Hooper  fled  to  the  house  of  Sir  Thomas 
Arundel,  who  gave  him  protection  and  made  him  an 
officer  of  his  household.  But  discovering  his  relig 
ion,  he  was  displeased  thereat,  and  sent  him  to  my 
lord  of  Winchester  to  be  converted  backwards.  The 
Bishop  found  the  pupil  somewhat  hard  at  conver 
sion,  and  sent  him  again  to  Sir  Thomas,  right  well 
commending  his  learning  and  wit,  but  withal  bearing 
in  his  breast  a  grudging  stomach  against  him.  Anon, 
the  Master  Hooper  was  told  privily  that  danger  was 
working  against  him.  Whereat  he  took  flight  to 
Paris.  In  a  short  time  he  returned,  and  was  re 
tained  of  one  Master  Lentlow  till  the  time  he  was 
again  molested  and  laid  for;  whereby  he  was  again 
compelled  to  take  the  seas  in  disguise ;  and  so 
escaped  he  through  France  to  the  higher  parts  of 
Germany." 3 

1  Fox,  III.  145.     P.  S.  Memoir,        3  Fox,  HI.  145.     P.  S.  Memoir, 
viii.  viii. 

2  Fox,  H.  652. 


CH.  I.]  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  7 

"By  my  troth!"  exclaimed  the  young  king,  "an 
persecution  betoken  goodness,  Master  Hooper  hath 
brave  commendation!" 

"  Hated  at  home,"  continued  Somerset,  "  but  be 
friended  abroad.  Bullinger  was  his  singular  friend; 
and  he  is  much  beloved  by  Martin  Bucer,  Peter 
Martyr,  and  John  a  Lasco,  whom  his  Grace  of  Can 
terbury  hath  invited  hither." l 

"Another  mark  of  goodness,  an  a  man  may  be 
known  by  his  friends.  Proceed,  my  lord." 

"  But  Master  Hooper  was  not  content  with  scholar 
friendships,  and  took  to  his  heart  a  fair  and  godly 
damsel  who  lived  not  far  from  Antwerp." 

"  Married,  ha !  " 

"  Nay,  my  liege.  I  did  but  say  he  took  her  to  his 
heart  He  was  too  poor  to  marry.  So  he  came  to 
England  about  three  years  agone,  to  get  moneys 
from  his  father.  But  the  Six  Article  men  e'en  again 
made  England  too  hot  for  him,  whence  he  barely 
escaped  with  his  life.  Albeit,  he  came  safe  again  to 
Antwerp,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  that  year,  1546,  he 
was  married  in  Switzerland,  at  Basle  or  at  Zurich, — 
my  memory  serveth  not  which,  —  to  Mistress  Anne 
de  Tserchlas,  a  woman  of  good  blood  and  high 
worth."2 

"  So  ho !  married  at  last !  Ma  foi !  a  sincere  Prot 
estant,  then,  and  a  bold.  Prithee,  my  lord  Duke,  is 
he  learned  ?  " 

"Well  skilled,  your  Majesty,  in  Latin,  Greek,  and 
Hebrew.  At  Zurich  he  gave  himself  very  studiously 

1  Holingshed,  IV.  742,  743.    Hey-        2  Fox,  IE.  145.     P.  S.  Memoir, 
lin's  Ref.    79.      Strype's   Cranmer,    ix. 
195,  196.     Strype's  Whitgift,  389. 


8  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  [Cn.  I. 

to  the  original  tongues  of  the  Scriptures,  especially 
to  the  Hebrew." l 

"  It  now  mindeth  us/'  said  the  king,  "  that  we  did 
hear  his  name  when  you  and  our  good  Archbishop 
did  moot  the  sending  for  Master  Myles  Coverdale.2 
But  troth,  we  mislike  it.  Why  have  we  not  known 
his  return  ere  this  present  ?  " 

"Good,  my  liege  lord,  he  did  arrive  in  London 
only  on  the  very  last  of  May.  When  he  heard  of 
your  Majesty  coming  to  the  crown,  and  of  the  good 
progress  of  religion  under  your  Majesty's  favor,  he 
was  fain  to  come  at  once  to  offer  his  service.  But  a 
wife  and  infant  daughter  did  hinder  awhile.  Soon 
after  their  arrival  I  did  take  him  into  my  service 
to  be  my  chaplain.3  To  try  his  doctrine  and  his 
parts  before  commending  him  to  your  Highness,  I 
have  permitted  him  to  preach  in  London.  He  hath 
proved  himself —  " 

"  Hold,  my  lord  Duke  !  yonder  is  one  we  would 
talk  with  about  this  man.  Follow,  my  lord  ! " 

So  saying,  the  young  king,  an  expert  and  fear 
less  rider,  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  was  closely 
followed  by  the  Duke  and  his  attendants. 

Edward  VI.,  young  as  he  was,  had  given  indica 
tions  of  character  and  capacity  which  had  excited 
the  highest  hope  and  enthusiasm  of  his  subjects, 
and  the  admiration  of  foreign  residents  at  his  court. 
When  six  years  of  age,  in  the  summer  of  1544,  he 
had  been  committed  to  the  care  of  Master  John 
Cheeke,  then  Greek  lecturer  at  the  University  of 

1  Fox,  HI.  145.  Fuller,  Bk.  VH.  2  Fox,  II.  654.  Collier,  V.  188. 
p.  402.  Burnet,  IH.  299.  Carte,  HeyL  Ref.,  34.  P.  S.  Memoir,  526. 
m.  253.  Heyl.  Ref.,  90.  '  p.  St  Memoir,  ix.,  x. 


CH.  I.]  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  9 

Cambridge,  and  of  Doctor  Eichard  Cox;  the  former 
to  instruct  him  in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  the  latter 
in  Christian  doctrine,  in  philosophy,  and  in  the  de 
portment  becoming  a  prince.  In  modern  languages, 
he  had  other  instructors.  In  a  short  time  he  could 
converse  perfectly  in  French,  and  had  a  good  com 
mand  of  Italian,  Greek,  Latin,  and  Spanish;  so  that 
he  received  and  answered,  in  his  own  person,  the 
ambassadors  of  foreign  courts  when  presented  at  his 
own.  He  was  amiable,  tractable,  eager  and  quick 
to  learn,  and  spared  no  labor  to  qualify  himself  for 
his  station.  His  judgment  was  precocious ;  he  gave 
himself  to  affairs  of  state  with  intense  interest  and 
becoming  gravity,  requiring  of  his  Council  a  reason 
for  every  matter  which  should  pass  their  judgments. 
From  early  childhood,  he  had  manifested  both  rev 
erence  and  love  for  religion ;  and  at  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  in  1547,  had  immediately  favored  a 
reformation  in  the  Church,  and  urged  the  better 
religious  instruction  of  his  people.  Somerset,  there 
fore,  in  speaking  of  a  new  and  worthy  preacher,  had 
at  once  excited  the  interest  of  his  royal  ward.  The 
Duke,  now  Lord  Protector  of  the  king's  realm  and 
person,  was  a  friend  to  the  Reformation ;  as  were  the 
two  preceptors  who  have  been  named,  and  who  had 
instructed  their  pupil,  with  great  care,  in  the  Protes 
tant  faith,  and  in  his  duties  as  a  Christian  and  a  king. 
For  Doctor  Cox  he  had  profound  respect  and  love,  had 
made  him  Privy  Councillor  and  King's  Almoner,  and 
paid  particular  deference  to  his  opinion  in  matters  of 
religion.  It  was  at  sight  of  him  that  he  had  suspend 
ed  his  conversation  with  the  Duke  of  Somerset.1 

1  Fox,  H.  653.     Holingshed,  IV.  741.      Rapin,  H.  1,  and  note;  and 

VOL.    I.  2 


10  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  [Cn.  I. 

A  brisk  gallop  soon  brought  them  to  the  Doctor, 
who  was  abroad  to  enjoy  the  morning.  As  soon  as 
they  had  committed  their  horses  to  their  attendants 
and  exchanged  the  usual  salutations,  the  king  said, 
"My  dear  tutor,  my  lord  Duke  hath  refreshed  our 
remembrance  of  Dr.  Hooper,  whilom  an  exile  on  ac 
count  of  his  religion.  Know  you  him,  good  sir  ?  " 

"  I  did,  my  liege,  in  your  royal  father's  day." 

"Now,  my  lord  Duke,"  said  Edward,  turning  to 
the  Protector,  "you  have  the  ear  of  one  of  whom 
we  always  take  advisement  touching  the  affairs  of 
Holy  Church,  and  to  whom  we  give  respect,  as  you 
well  know,  in  things  spiritual  more  than  is  meet  we 
should  do  to  our  courtiers,  or  even  to  our  honored 
Protector.  You  give  your  knightly  gage  that  Master 
Hooper  hateth  Popery  and  the  Six  Articles  ?  " 

"  Boldly  I  do,  may  it  please  your  Grace." 

"  Let  us  hear  aught  else  of  him.  You  did  give 
cause,  yester-eve,  to  suppose  that  somewhat  pertain- 
eth  to  him  of  rare  worth  and  worship.  Let  us  walk 
while  we  talk ;  for,  you  know,  we  would  break  our 
fast  anon." 

"I  have  shown  your  Highness  that  he  is  a  good 
man.  I  may  affirm,  too,  that  he  is  a  wondrous 
preacher." 

"  So  are  others,  my  lord,"  replied  the  king,  in  a 
tone  expressive  of  dissatisfaction.  "  Methought  you 
did  intend  that  he  hath  some  singular  excellence  of 
parts." 

"  His  eloquence  exceedeth  to  a  marvel ;  and  he  is 
zealous  for  a  pure  worship  and  for  a  pure  life." 

25,  note.     Heyl.  Ref.,  12-33  pas-    304.     Hallam,  58.     Biog.  Brit.,  Ar- 
sim.    Burnet,  II.  1,  2,  39  ;  III.  298,    tides  Cheeke,  Cox, 


CH.  I]  EDWAKD  THE  SIXTH.  11 

a  On  mine  honor  ! "  replied  the  king,  musing,  "  that 
be  a  rare  office  now-a-days,  —  preaching  up  a  pure 
life ;  fit  preaching,  too,  and  worthy  of  praise.  Is  it 
not,  good  sir  ?  "  addressing  Doctor  Cox. 

"  In  sooth  it  be,"  replied  the  preceptor.  (( To  ex 
hort  men  to  behave  better  out  of  church,  as  well  as 
to  worship  better  in  it,  is  both  commendable  and 
timely ;  for  the  wickedness  that  preyaileth  among 
all  classes  is  but  softly  and  seldom  rebuked.  An 
Doctor  Hooper  playeth  the  soldier  against  the  vices 
of  the  world  and  the  corruptions  of  the  Church,  as  I 
am  told  he  doth,  may  the  good  Lord  prosper  him." 

66  Amen  1 "  replied  Edward.  Then,  turning  to  the 
Duke,  "  We  listen,  my  lord." 

"  Doctor  Hooper  is  diligent.  He  practiseth  with 
the  sword  seven  days  in  the  week." 

"  What,  my  lord  !  a  priest  a  sword-player  ?  " 

66  Of  a  verity  he  is  so,  my  liege  ;  and  none  in  your 
Majesty's  dominions  surpasseth  him  in  skill.  The 
bruit  of  it  draweth  thousands  around  him.  Howbeit, 
he  wieldeth  only  the  sword  of  the  Spirit." 

"  So  ho  !     He  preacheth  seven  days  in  the  week  ?  " 

K  Every  day,  my  liege.  He  hath  a  body  strong ; 
health  sound;  wit  pregnant;  patience  invincible.  In 
his  doctrine,  earnest ;  in  tongue,  eloquent ;  in  the 
Scriptures,  perfect ;  in  pains,  indefatigable,  for  he 
not  only  preacheth  every  day,  but  most  time  twice 
every  day.  In  his  sermons,  he  sharply  inveigheth 
against  the  people's  iniquities.  He  explaineth  the 
Scriptures  freely ;  and  maketh  them  scales  in  which, 
before  their  eyes,  his  hearers'  righteousness  doth 
kick  the  beam,  and  their  vices  weigh  like  mill 
stones.  They  do  not  go  from  his  preaching  feel 
ing  —  nicely." 


12  EDWARD  THE  SIXTH.  [Cn.  I. 

"  So,  so ;  softly,  uncle  mine.  You  spoil  your 
preacher!  Who  goeth  to  church  to  be  rated?  and 
preaching  to  bare  walls  is  bootless." 

"  Troth,  my  gracious  liege,  walls  are  not  souls. 
Howbeit,  as  I  did  say,  there  be  souls  enow  where 
he  preacheth.  The  people  in  great  flocks  and  com 
panies  daily  come  to  hear  his  voice,  like  it  were  the 
most  melodious  sound  of  Orpheus's  harp ;  insomuch 
that  ofttimes  they  be  in  crowds  about  the  church 
for  lack  of  room  within.  Even  his  old  persecutor, 
Doctor  Smith,  confesseth  his  wondrous  power,  saying 
that  '  the  people  do  hold  him  for  a  prophet  from 
God;  nay,  even  more  than  a  prophet.'  They  flock 
to  hear  him,  your  Grace,  because  he  upbraideth  them." 

"  Because  !  and  fourteen  times  a  week  !  Bravo  ! 
a  master  indeed,  an  he  draw  such  crowds,  and  so 
often,  to  see  their  own  naughtiness." 

"  Of  a  truth,  my  liege  lord,  it  proveth  his  master 
ship,"  said  Somerset. 

"  What  be  the  secret  of  all  this  ?  "  asked  the  king, 
turning  to  his  tutor. 

"  Methinks,"  answered  Doctor  Cox,  "  it  lieth  partly 
in  his  honesty  and  earnestness;  but  chiefly  in  that 
the  people  preach  what  he  preacheth." 

"The  people!" 

"  Even  so,  my  gracious  prince.  He  declareth,  and 
they  say,  'Amen.'  He  expoundeth  the  truth,  and 
men's  consciences  echo  it.  When  that  be  so,  it 
matters  little  what  truth  be  spoken,  —  men  will  go 
to  hear  it."1 

The  young  king  was  deeply  interested  in  this 
report  of  Doctor  Hooper's  extraordinary  powers  and 

1  Fox,  IH.  146.     Heyl.  Ref.,  94.     Burnet,  IH.  302.     P.  S.  Memoir,  x. 


Cir.  I.]  EDWARD   THE   SIXTH.  13 

piety ;  and,  as  they  were  entering  the  gates  of  the 
palace,  he  said  to  Somerset,  "It  is  our  will  that 
your  chaplain  remain  in  London  and  continue  his 
preaching.  Bid  him  abide  our  further  pleasure. 
God  be  thanked  for  a  messenger  fit  to  rouse  our 
poor  subjects  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Is  he 
a  courtly  man,  my  lord  Duke  ? " 

"They  who  do  not  know  him  well,  call  him  not 
so,  my  liege.  They  liken  him  to  Switzerland  in 
harsh,  rough  unpleasantness.  They  think  him  grave 
into  rigor,  and  severe  into  surliness.  Yet  is  this 
all  owing  to  their  little  acquaintance  with  him. 
They  who  visit  him  but  once  condemn  him  of  over- 
austerity;  they  who  repair  to  him  twice,  only  sus 
pect  him  of  the  same ;  while  they  who  converse 
with  him  constantly,  as  I  have  done,  not  only  acquit 
him  of  all  morosity,  but  commend  him  for  sweetness 
of  manners."1 

"  Find  him  out,  Doctor  Cox ;  find  him  out.  Give 
him  a  few  good  homilies  on  courtesy.  You  will 
find  a  text,  you  know,  in  one  of  Saint  Peter's  letters. 
An  you  succeed,  we  will  order  him  to  preach  at 
our  Court,  mayhap." 

Thus,  by  his  Majesty's  express  command,  Hooper 
continued  his  daily  labors  in  London  until,  on  the 
5th  of  February,  1550,  he  received  orders  from  the 
King  and  Council  to  preach  before  the  Court  once 
a  week  during  Lent.  He  was  also  sent  by  the  king 
to  preach  in  the  counties  of  Kent  and  Essex,  to 
reconcile  the  people  to  the  Keformation.2 

1  Fox,  IE.  146.     Fuller,  Bk.  VII.        2  Fox,  HI.  146.    Burnet,  HI.  302. 
p.  402.  Neal,  I.  52.     P.  S.  Memoir,  xi.,  xii. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    [REFORMATION. 

ITS  ORIGIN.  —  THE  STATUTE  OF  PR.EMUNIRE. —  THE  SEPARATION  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  CHURCH.  —  THE  SUPREMACY.  —  "THE  Six  ARTICLES."  —  THE  AC 
CESSION  OF  EDWARD  VI.—  CHURCH  REFORM.  — INNOVATION  DISLIKED. 

1350-1550. 

THE  evangelical  Reformation  of  England  originat 
ed  from  within  herself.  So  did  her  ecclesiastical. 
Bradwardine  and  Wickliffe  preceded  Luther  and 
Melancthon,  Edward  III.  preceded  Leo  X.  —  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  Tyndal  and  Bilney  and 
Coverdale,  although  contemporary  with  Luther  and 
Zwingle,  wrought  independently  of  them ;  and  when 
the  monk  of  Wittemberg  was  nailing  his  Theses  to 
the  door  of  the  church,  the  true  Reformation  in 
England  was  already  vitalized  and  in  progress.1 

In  1350  Edward  III.,  influenced  doubtless  by  his 
pious  chaplain  Bradwardine,  who  exalted  the  Scrip 
tures  and  abased  traditions,  wishing  to  secure  the 
religious  liberties  of  England  against  the  encroach 
ments  of  the  Pontiff  of  Rome,  passed  "the  Statute 
of  Provisors,"  so  called;  by  which  imprisonment  or 
banishment  for  life  was  decreed  for  all  who  should 
procure,  or  provide,  any  presentations  to  benefices 
in  the  English  Church  from  the  Court  of  Rome. 

1  D'Aubigne,  V.  80-83,  149-159. 


CH.  n.] 


THE  REFORMATION. 


15 


By  another  statute,  every  person  was  outlawed  who 
should  carry  thither  any  cause  by  appeal. 

In  1393,  under  Kichard  II.,  the  Act  of  Pro  visors 
was  renewed;  and  it  was  also  enacted,  that  who 
soever  should  bring  into  England,  receive,  publish, 
or  execute  there,  any  papal  bull,  excommunication, 
or  other  like  document,  should  be  out  of  the  king's 
protection,  —  by  some  understood  to  mean  that  his 
life  was  at  the  mercy  of  any  man,  —  and  forfeit 
goods,  chattels,  and  liberty.  This  was  called  "The 
Statute  of  Prasmunire." 3 

By   these    statutes,   the    independent    supremacy 


1  Fox,  I  548.  Burnet,  I.  175- 
177.  Neal,  I.  1.  Hume,  I.  610,  II. 
36.  D'Aubigne,  V.,  81,  82. 

"The  most  natural  meaning  of 
the  word  prazmunire  (given  more 
particularly  to  the  Act  of  1393) 
seems  to  be,  to  fence  and  fortify 
the  regal  power  from  foreign  as 
sault."  D'Aubigne,  V.  82,  note. 

"  Touching  prasmunire,  it  is  prop 
erly  a  Writ,  or  process  of  summons, 
awarded  against  such  as  brought  in 
Bulls,  or  Citations,  from  the  Court 
of  Rome,  to  obtain  Ecclesiastical 
Benefices,  by  way  of  provision,  be 
fore  they  fell  void ;  for  of  old  time, 
divers  acts  of  Parliament  were  made, 
viz.  in  the  times  of  King  Edward 
III.,  King  Richard  II.,  and  King 
Henry  IV.,  against  the  Pope's  ex 
ercise  of  jurisdiction  within  this 
nation;  and  against  those  subjects 
that  did  appeal,  from  courts  of  justice 
here,  to  the  Court  of  Rome;  and 
who  obtained  Provisions  there,  to 
have  Priories,  Abbeys,  or  Benefices 
with  Cure,  here ;  which  proceedings 
tended  (say  those  Statutes)  to  the 
destruction  of  the  Realm,  and  of 


Religion.      Therefore,   these   being 
held  to   be  great   offences,  and  so 
tending  to  the  disherison  of  rights 
belonging   to   the    Crown  and   the 
people  of  England,  and  to  the  de 
struction  of  the  Common  Law,  are 
made   to  be  grievously  punishable, 
viz.  To  be  imprisoned  during  life, 
To  forfeit  lands  and  goods,  and  to 
be  put  out  of  the  protection  of  the 
law."  —  Charge  of  Serjeant  Thorpe, 
Judge  of  Assize  for  the  North   Cir 
cuit,    to    the    Grand  Jury   at    York 
Assizes,  20  March,  1648.    (Harleian 
Miscellany,  II.  7.)    Serjeant  Thorpe 
also  embraces  under  the  same  term 
statutes   enacted    in   the    reign    of 
Elizabeth   against  other,  but  anal 
ogous   offences,  to  which  the  same 
penalties  were  attached.     I  think  it 
will   appear   in   the  course    of  the 
following  pages  that  by  "  a  praemu- 
nire"   was   sometimes    meant   only 
the  penalty  affixed   to  the  original 
statute   of  that  name,   even   when 
incurred  by  some  ecclesiastical  irreg 
ularity,  or  offence,  entirely  different 
from  those  described  in  that  statute 
itself 


16  THE  REFORMATION.  [Cn.  II. 

of  the  Pope  had  been  technically  walled  out  of 
England.  Not  so,  however,  in  fact.  Papal  intrigue 
and  diplomacy  had  put  them  to  sleep;  and  the 
old  encroachments  and  usurpations  had  crept  in 
again.  But  Henry  VIII.  aroused  them,  and  wielded 
them  so  stoutly  and  adroitly,  as  to  transfer  to  him 
self  and  his  successors  that  supremacy  over  the 
English  Church  which  the  Popes  had  so  long  arro 
gated  and  held. 

It  happened  thus.  Henry  and  Pope  Clement 
had  been  negotiating  a  long  time  about  the  divorce 
of  Queen  Catharine,  —  a  matter  upon  which  the 
king  had  set  his  heart.  The  Pope  had  scruples 
about  it,  —  scruples  of  policy  they  were,  though  he 
talked  only  about  conscience.  He  had  put  the 
matter  off,  and  put  it  off,  until  the  king  began  to 
think  himself  trifled  with;  and  it  was  plain  that 
he  would  be  incensed  should  Clement  refuse  the 
divorce.  On  the  other  hand,  should  he  decree  it,  it 
was  certain  that  Charles  V.,  Emperor  of  Germany 
and  nephew  of  Queen  Catharine,  would  be  incensed. 
For  a  good  while,  his  Holiness  had  weighed  the  two 
monarchs  in  his  fisherman's  scales;  which  it  had 
become  pretty  certain  would  turn  in  favor  of  the 
Emperor.  Henry  was  out  of  patience.  At  this 
juncture,  a  word  fitly  spoken  by  a  bold  and  clear 
headed  counsellor1  roused  him  to  a  sense  of  his 
kingly  degradation  as  a  suitor  to  Rome,  and  he 
determined  to  shake  off  his  ghostly  allegiance ;  that 
henceforth  he  himself  would  be  head  of  the  Church 
in  England ;  that  he  would  entail  the  dignity  upon 
his  heirs;  and  so  English  princes  no  more  be  serfs 

1  Lingard,  VI.    177.     D'Aubigne,  V.  491,  492. 


CH.  H]  THE  KEFORMATION.  17 

of  a  foreign  lord.  But  how  could  he  bring  the 
clergy  to  cast  off  their  old  allegiance,  and  to  own 
spiritual  fealty  to  a  temporal  prince? 

Parliament  had  not  met  for  seven  years.  During 
all  this  time  the  Pope  had  given  law  to  Englishmen, 
and  judged  them  in  his  courts;  his  interests  had 
been  sustained  by  oppressions  upon  all  classes  and 
in  all  branches  of  business,  until  lords  and  commons 
cringed  under  the  smart  of  their  wrongs.  Wolsey, 
a  prince  of  the  Koman  Church,  had  been  judge 
paramount.  All  judicial  transactions  had  passed 
in  his  name  and  under  his  seal,  as  the  Pope's 
lieutenant.1  The  king  had  permitted  this,  to  be 
sure;  but  that  did  not  alter  the  legal  fact.  He 
therefore  ordered  the  Cardinal  to  be  arrested  and 
tried  for  treason;  and  he  was  pronounced  guilty 
under  the  Statute  of  Praemunire.2  The  poor  man 
immediately  took  to  his  bed;  and  in  a  few  days 
died,  with  the  sad  words  upon  his  lips:  "Had  I 
been  as  careful  to  serve  the  God  of  heaven,  as  I 
have  to  comply  to  the  will  of  my  earthly  king, 
God  would  not  have  left  me  in  mine  old  age,  as  the 
other  hath  done."3 

But  if  "Wolsey  was  guilty  under  those  old  laws 
of  Provisors  and  Prsemunire,  so  were  all  the  clergy ; 
for  all  had  sought  his  court  and  admitted  its 
decisions.  It  was  well.  The  whip  suited  the  king's 
purpose.  He  had  found  it;  he  held  it;  and  he 
would  not  lay  it  down  except  the  culprits  ecclesias 
tic  would  come  to  terms.  So  they  were  judged  to 

1  D'Aubigne,  V.  493,  494.  3  Fuller's  Holy  State,  253.  Hume, 

2  Neal,  I.    32.      D'Aubigne,    V.    H  346. 

487-489. 

VOL.    I.  3 


18  THE  REFORMATION.  [On.  II. 

be  in  prcemumre,  for  maintaining  the  illegal  power 
and  acts  of  the  Cardinal.  They  were  at  the  king's 
mercy.  They  offered  to  buy  off  the  prcemunire,  to 
which  the  king  consented  on  condition  that  they 
would  also  recognize  his  ecclesiastical  supremacy, 
not  otherwise.1  They  yielded,  and  sued  for  pardon ; 
agreeing  to  pay  one  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty  pounds ;  and  u  acknowledg 
ing  his  Majesty  to  be  a  singular  protector,  the  only 
and  supreme  lord,  and,  as  far  as  was  allowed  by  the 
Gospel,  Supreme  Head  likewise  of  the  Church  and 
clergy  of  England."  The  royal  wrath  was  appeased, 
and  pardon  granted.  This  was  in  January  and 
March,  1531.  On  the  third  day  of  November,  1534, 
the  Parliament,  having  meanwhile  invested  him  with 
all  the  real  powers  of  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy, 
conferred  on  the  king  the  title ;  ordaining  that  he 
"should  be  taken,  accepted,  and  reputed  the  only 
Supreme  Head  in  earth  of  the  Church  of  England, 

and  should  have  full  power  to  reform  and 

correct  all  manner  of  spiritual  authority  and  juris 
diction  " ;  the  words,  "  as  far  as  was  allowed  by  the 
Gospel,"  being  purposely  omitted  in  the  act. 

Thus  was  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the 
Pope  abolished  in  England,  and  that  of  the  crown 
substituted.2 

Within  his  own  realm,  Henry  was  now  every 
whit  a  pope;  not  in  ecclesiastical  authority  only, 
but  in  doctrine,  superstition,  bigotry,  despotism, 
and  cruelty.  Installed  at  the  Vatican,  instead  of 

1  Lingard,  VI.  178.  Burnet,  I.  183.     Lingard,  VI.  228. 

2  Stow's  Annals,  559.      Heylin's     Neal,  I.  32.     Hume,   II.  347,   35G. 
Ref.  19.     Carte,  III.  108,  109,  128.     Hallam,  48. 


CH.  II.]  THE  REFORMATION.  19 

Hampton  Court  or  Whitehall,  he  would  have  been 
—  without  change  in  his  opinions  or  measures  — 
as  true,  as  orthodox,  and  as  consistent  a  head 
of  the  Roman  Church  Catholic,  as  was  Clement 
himself. 

True,  he  broke  up  the  monasteries,  and  turned 
the  monks  adrift ;  but  he  had  need  of  their  worldly 
substance.  He  demolished  the  shrines  of  pretended 
saints;  but  he  needed  their  hoards  of  jewels  and 
gold.  He  burned  images  which  he  proscribed  as 
abused  to  superstition;  but  he  spared  others.  He 
allowed  the  Bible  to  be  translated,  printed,  and  read 
by  all;  but  afterwards  repented  and  forbade  its 
use.  He  disapproved  giving  godly  honor  to  images ; 
but  said  it  was  well  enough  to  kneel  and  to  burn 
incense  before  them;  and  it  was  a  very  good  thing, 
he  proclaimed,  to  pray  to  saints  in  heaven,  and  to 
pray  for  dead  men's  souls.1  He  issued  a  bull,  too, 
which  the  Roman  Pope  would  have  approved.  In  it 
he  told  his  subjects,  — 

1.  That  if  any  one  denied  that  the  bread  and  the 
wine  of  the  sacramental  supper  were  the  real  body 
and   blood   of  Christ,   he    should   be   burned   alive, 
without  the  privilege  of  abjuring. 

2.  That  the  bread  is  both  the  body  and  the  blood, 
and  that  the  wine  is  both  the  body  and  the  blood  of 
Christ,  —  so  that  partaking  of  either  is  sufficient.2 

1  Stow,  553,  554,  575.     Heylin's  mode  in  which  Christ  is  present  at 
Ref.,    9-11,    20,   48.      Holingshed,  the    ordinance    commemorative    of 
IV.  732.     Carte,  III.  128,  129,  151.  his  death  were  vague  and  various, 
Burnet,    I.,  II.   passim.      Neal,  I.  though  all  were  agreed  that  he  was 
passim.     Hallam,  57,  and  note.  so — in  some  sense. 

2  At  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  In  the  year  831,  a  monk  named 
century,  the  opinions  respecting  the  Pascasius    broached  the    following 


20 


THE  REFORMATION. 


[Cn.  II. 


3.  That  priests  ought  not  to  marry. 

4.  That  vows  of  chastity  are  perpetually  binding. 

5.  That  private  masses  ought  to  be  continued.1 

6.  That  confession  to  a  priest  is  necessary  to  for 
giveness. 


dogma,  namely,  that,  after  the  con 
secration  of  the  bread  and  wine, 
nothing  remains  of  them  but  the 
outward  form ;  under  which  the  very 
body  of  Christ  which  was  born  of 
Mary,  had  suffered  on  the  cross, 
and  risen  from  the  grave,  is  locally 
and  really  present.  (Mosheim,  II. 
331,  Cent.  IX.  Part  H.  Ch.  III.) 

In  1215,  Pope  Innocent  HI.,  by 
an  arbitrary  edict  —  i.  e.  without 
obtaining  the  opinion  of  the  Church 
Catholic  by  Council  or  otherwise  — 
ordained  the  doctrine  of  Pascasius 
to  be  a  doctrine  of  the  Church,  and 
gave  it  the  name  of  Transubstan- 
tiation.  (Fox,  II.  459.  Mosheim, 
III.  236,  Cent.  XIII.  Part  H  Ch. 
HI.)  As  a  result  of  this  decree, 
the  bread  particularly  —  being  the 
only  element  then  given  to  the 
laity  —  became  an  object  of  relig 
ious  worship,  as  being  the  very 
person  of  God ;  and  about  the  year 
1222,  Pope  Honorius  III.  ordained 
the  elevation  of  the  sacrament,  and 
that  the  people  should  kneel  and 
worship  it.  (Fox,  II.  460 ;  in.  9.) 

Luther  held  to  what  he  called 
Con-substantiation ;  namely,  that, 
after  consecration,  the  true  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  are  in,  witJi, 
and  under  the  elements.  In  other 
words,  that  the  bread  and  the  wine, 
the  body  and  the  blood,  are  all 
there. 

Martin  Bucer,  Calvin,  and  Bishop 
Ridley  held  to  a  real  presence  of 
Christ's  body  and  blood,  but  ex 


cluded  the  idea  of  the  corporal 
reception  of  the  same  by  the  com 
municant. 

Zwingle  regarded  the  elements 
only  as  signs  or  figures  of  Christ's 
body  and  blood ;  and  the  partaking 
thereof  only  as  a  spiritual  commun 
ion  with  our  Saviour,  —  a  simple 
memorial  of  his  death.  (Heylin's 
Ref.,  53.  Burnet,  II.  166,  167. 
Milman's  Gibbon,  IV.  35,  N.  York 
edit.  1847.  Hallam,  63.) 

1  The  Popish  Mass  includes  not 
only  the  consecrating  services  by 
which  transubstantiation  is  supposed 
to  be  effected,  but  the  offering,  as 
an  expiatory  sacrifice,  of  that  which 
is  supposed,  by  the  consecration,  to 
have  become  Christ,  —  an  offering 
made  either  for  the  living  or  for 
the  dead. 

High  Mass  is  that  in  which  the 
service  of  the  consecration  is  pub 
licly  performed  by  a  choir;  after 
which  the  sacrament  is  elevated, 
and  all  the  people  render  wor 
ship. 

Low  Mass  is  that  in  which  the 
service  is  recited  only,  without 
singing. 

"  Private  Masses  were  those  that 
were  celebrated  by  the  priest  alone 
in  behalf  of  souls  detained  in  pur 
gatory,  as  well  as  upon  some  other 
particular  occasions."  —  Mosheim,  II. 
261,  note.  "The  private  Mass 
suffereth  the  priest  alone  to  eat 
and  drink  up  all,  and  when  he  hath 
done,  to  bless  the  people  with  the 


CH.  II.]  THE   REFOKMATION.  .  21 

He  added,  that  whoever  should  deny  any  of  these 
last  five  points  should  forfeit  —  even  if  he  should 
recant  —  all  his  goods  and  chattels,  and  be  im 
prisoned  as  long  as  the  king  pleased;  and  if  he 
continued  obstinate,  or,  after  recanting  his  disbelief, 
relapsed,  he  should  be  put  to  death.1 

All  this  was  made  a  law  by  Parliament  in  June, 
1538.  It  was  called  "The  Statute  of  the  Six 
Articles,"  of  which  mention  has  been  made  above ; 
sometimes,  "The  Bloody  Statute";  and  sometimes, 
"The  Whip  with  Six  Strings."  But  besides  this, 
if  any  one  neglected  to  confess  to  the  priest,  or  to 
receive  the  sacrament  at  the  stated  times,  he  should 
be  fined  and  imprisoned  during  the  king's  pleasure ; 
and  if  he  continued  to  do  so  after  being  found  guilty, 
he  should  be  put  to  death.2 

The  superior  clergy  had  acknowledged  a  new 
master,  and  Parliament  had  legalized  their  act.  But 
nearly  all  the  inferior  clergy,  and  some  of  the 
bishops  and  nobles,  were  opposed  to  the  change,3 
and  the  grosser  doctrines  and  the  external  forms 
of  Komanism  were  still  enforced.  We  see  here  no 
Eeformation.  The  monarch  had  only  riven  his  Pa 
pal  bands.  With  the  greater  part  of  his  subjects, 
he  still  clave  to  his  old  religion,  and  upheld  it  to  his 
dying  day.4 

Whatever  had  been  done  towards  a  reformation  in 

empty  cup In  the  private  the  dead,  rehearsed  for  thirty  suc- 

Mass,  the  sacrament  is  received  in  cessive  days.    (Burnet,  II.  101.) 
behoof  not  only  of  him  that  exe-        l  Hume,  II.  403,  compared  with 

cuteth,  but  of  them  also  that  stand  Heylin's  Ref.,   10,  with  Burnet,  I. 

looking  on,  and  of  them  also  which  416,  and  Neal,  I.  39. 
be  afar  off  or  in  purgatory."  —  Fox,        2  Burnet,  I.  417.    Hume,  II.  403. 
II.  462.  3  Neal?  j  34^  35> 

Trental    Masses  are  masses  for        *  Introduction  to  Heylin's  Eef. 


22  THE  REFORMATION.  [Cn.  H. 

religion,  had  been  done  by  simpler  means  than  royal 
edicts  and  civil  statutes.  It  had  been  done  in  secret 
places  and  in  silence.  The  Keformer, —  God;  the 
means,  —  his  Providence  and  his  Word.  His  Word, 

—  for  that  only  was  waking  men  to  the  grand  and 
commanding  conviction,  that  he  who  worships  God 
must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  a  conviction 
which  was  entering  alike  the  palace  of  the  prelate 
and   the    cot   of  the   peasant.     This   was  the   true, 
the   fundamental,   the   invisible   Eeformation.     While 
Henry  lived,  he  repressed  it.    But  when  Death  broke 
his  despotism,  it  found  its  true  position  and  became 

—  still   resting   upon  that  Word  which   had   given 
it  being  —  the   living   foundation  *  upon   which  was 
builded   the   ecclesiastical  fabric  of  the   visible   Kef- 
ormation. 

Edward  VI.,  the  son  of  Henry  by  Jane  Seymour, 
came  to  the  throne  on  the  28th  of  January,  1547;  a 
mere  child,  aged  nine  years  and  three  months.1  By 
Henry's  will,  the  government  devolved  upon  sixteen 
executors, "  whom,"  it  says, "  we  ordain  and  constitute 
our  Privy  Council  with  our  said  son."  He  also  named 
twelve  others  upon  whom  the  Council  might  "  call " 
for  "  aid  and  assistance."  The  legal  minority  of  the 
young  king  was  limited  by  the  same  instrument  to 
the  termination  of  his  eighteenth  year.  Sir  Edward 
Seymour,  Earl  of  Hertford  and  eldest  brother  of 
Queen  Jane,  had  been  made  Duke  of  Somerset  and 
Lord  Protector  of  the  realm,  immediately  upon 
Edward's  accession.  Next  after  the  coronation,  the 
Council  had  entered  officially  upon  the  work  of 

1  Heylin's  Ref.,  30. 


CH.  II.]  THE  REFORMATION.  23 

reforming  the  Church.  Cranmer,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  some  other  bishops,  promoted  the 
work  from  a  sincere  desire  for  a  purer  doctrine  and 
worship ;  but  it  is  doubtless  true  that  a  greed  of 
wealth  influenced  the  secular  nobility  of  the  Court, 
who  coveted  and  soon  obtained  the  treasures  of 
those  shrines,  and  those  Chantry  lands  which  had 
not  yet  been  appropriated  by  the  crown.1 

The  first  step  had  been  to  send  out  Commissioners 
under  the  king,  as  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church,  to 
inquire  into  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  to  enjoin  cer 
tain  prescribed  duties.  They  had  been  attended  by 
suitable  preachers,  who  were  directed  to  instruct  the 
people  in  the  principles  of  religion,  and  to  dissuade 
them  from  praying  to  saints  or  for  the  dead,  from 
adoring  images,  from  masses,  and  other  superstitious 
rites  of  the  Romish  Church.2 

The  Statute  of  the  Six  Articles  had  been  repealed. 
A  new  liturgy,  or  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and 
religious  ceremonies,  had  been  drawn  up  by  a  com 
mittee  under  order  of  Council,  and  passed  as  a  law 
on  the  17th  of  January,  1549,  by  the  Parliament 
which  had  convened  in  the  previous  November.3  In 

1  Burnet,  II.  39.     Heylin's  Ref.,  the   founders,   and   such   others   as 

33,  and  Introduc.    "  Chantries  were  they   appointed." — Rapin,   II.    10, 

salaries    allowed    to  one   or   more  note.     See  also  Lodge,  I.  123,  note, 

priests,   to   say  daily  mass  for  the  A  large  account  of  Chantries  is  in 

souls    of   their    deceased   founders  Fuller,  Bk.  VI.  pp.  351 -354. 

and  their  friends."  —  Heylin's  Ref.,  2  Fox,  II.   655.     Strype's  Cran- 

51.  "  A  chantry  was  a  little  church,  mer,  146-148.     Heylin's  Ref.,  34. 

or  chapel,  or  a  particular  altar  in  Heylin's   Presb.,   204.      Carte,  III. 

some  cathedral  church, en-  211,212.   Burnet,  II.  41 -44.   Neal, 

dowed  with  lands  or  other  revenues  I.  44.     Hume,  II.  464. 

for  the  maintenance  of  one  or  more  3  Fox,  II.  654,  660.     Collier,  V. 

priests  daily  to  sing  mass  and  per-  224,  306.     Strype's  Cranmer,  157. 

form  divine  service  for  the  souls  of  Stow,  595.     Carte,  III.  224-227. 


24  THE  REFORMATION.  [Cn.  II. 

this  liturgy,  the  practices  of  adoring  the  wood  of  the 
cross  and  the  host  or  sacramental  bread,  all  masses, 
all  prayers  to  saints,  all  blessing  of  inanimate  things, 
as  bells,  candles,  fire,  water,  salt,  &c.,  were  left  out ; * 
the  Mass  was  changed  into  the  Communion ;  and 
both  the  bread  and  the  wine  were  directed  to  be 
given  to  the  people,  who  were  still  taught,  however, 
that  in  each  element  they  received  the  very  body  of 
Christ ; 2  confession  to  the  priest  was  left  to  every 
man's  discretion;  and  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  bap 
tism,  in  confirmation,  and  in  anointing  the  sick,  was 
retained.  This  liturgy  was  in  a  great  measure  a 
translation  of  the  Komish  Manual.3 

The  English  Bible  and  Erasmus's  paraphrase  of 
the  Gospels  had  been  placed  in  every  church,  "in 
some  most  convenient  and  open  place,  that  the 
people  might  read  the  same  as  they  listed";  mar 
riage  had  been  permitted  to  the  clergy ;  the  re 
moval  of  all  images  and  pictures  from  the  churches 
had  been  ordered ;  and  the  ceremonies  of  bearing 
palms  on  Palm-Sunday,  candles  on  Candlemas-day, 


Rapin,  II.  9,  13.  Burnet,  II.  63,  might  keep  off  devils,  and  impart 
98.  Holingshed,  IV.  741.  Heyl.  to  the  people  the  virtue  of  the  Holy 
Ref.,  48.  Ghost ;  —  upon  ashes,  that  those  cov- 
1  To  comply  with  the  heathenish  ered  with  them  might  deserve  re- 
superstition  of  the  people,  it  had  mission  of  sins.  The  people  thought 
been  customary  for  the  priest  to  that,  without  true  holiness,  they 
pronounce  a  blessing  upon  water  might  be  sure  of  heaven  by  such 
and  salt,  that  so  they  might  be  superstitious  observances.  (Burnet, 
made  efficacious  to  the  health  of  II.  117.) 

both    body   and    soul,    and    serve,  2  Fox,  II.  658,  660.     Collier,  V. 

wherever    sprinkled,   as    a    charm  227.     Strype's  Cranmer,  159,  193. 

against    devils  ;  — upon    the    holy  Burnet,  II.  102,  103,  127,  247. 

bread,  that  it  might  keep  off  dis-  3  Stow,  595,  596.     Rapin,  II.  10, 

eases  and  the  snares  of  the  Devil; —  11,  13.     Carte,  III.  219,  221,  226. 

upon  holy  incense,  that  the  smoke  Neal,  I.  47. 


CH.  II.]  THE  REFORMATION.  25 

ashes  on  Ash- Wednesday,  and  some  of  the  rites 
used  on  Good-Friday  and  Easter-day,  had  been  for 
bidden.1 

A  book  of  Homilies,  or  short  discourses,  had  also 
been  published,  to  be  read  by  the  clergy  in  public 
service.  The  purport  of  these  was,  —  that  remis 
sion  of  sins,  and  salvation,  are  to  be  obtained  only 
because  of  the  death  of  Christ,  and  by  those  only 
who  trust  in  him  alone  and  adopt  his  precepts  as 
their  rule  of  life  ; 2  in  other  words,  that  justification 
before  God  is  not  to  be  obtained  by  sacraments, 
masses,  absolutions,  and  ceremonials,  but  only  by 
trust  in  Christ  and  amendment  of  life. 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  one  great,  if  not 
the  chief,  reason  for  the  construction  of  these  Hom 
ilies,3  and  of  the  Forms  of  Prayer,  was  that  the 
common  clergy,  for  lack  of  education,  if  not  of 
religion,  were  utterly  incapable  of  preaching  and 
of  praying  in  public.  To  supply  this  woful  lack, 
the  liturgy  was  framed.  We  have  said,  that  it 
was  in  a  great  measure  a  translation  of  the  Romish 
Manual.  The  Common  Prayer,  in  particular,  was 
taken  out  of  the  Popish  Mass-book ;  another  signifi 
cant  fact,  for  it  was  intentional  on  the  part  of  the 
Reformers,  lest,  by  too  sudden  and  absolute  an  aban 
donment  of  ancient  forms,  they  should  so  shock  the 
prejudices  of  the  people  as  to  fail  of  establishing 
the  more  Scriptural  worship  at  which  they  aimed. 
It  was  their  policy,  "~by  little  and  little  to  wean  the 

1  Fox,  II.  656,  658,  661.     Stow,  Carte,  TTT.   220,   227.     Burnet,  II. 

595.      Collier,   V.    241,    304.      Ra-  94,96,141.     Cardwell,  I.  4  -  65. 

pin,  H.  11.     Heylin's  Ref.,  35,  42.  2  Burnet,  II.  42,  43.     Neal,  I.  45. 

Strype's  Cranmer,    148,    156,   159.  8  Strype's  Memorials,  IH  591. 

VOL.  i.  4 


26  THE  REFORMATION.  [Cn.  II. 

people  from  their  superstitions."1  Hence  it  was, 
that,  although  many  Popish  superstitions  were  omit 
ted  in  the  new  liturgy,  many  also  were  retained. 
Still  better  things  were  intended  than  were  ever 
carried  into  effect.  This  policy  of  a  gradual  advance 
will  be  brought  to  view  hereafter.2 

Such  were  the  main  features  of  the  ecclesiastical 
reformation,  at  the  date  of  Hooper's  introduction 
to  the  royal  Court.  An  important  though  partial 
advance  had  been  made  toward  purity  of  doctrine 
and  worship.  A  great  innovation  had  been  effected 
upon  the  paganism  of  the  Eomish  Church. 

It  is  not  surprising,  that  at  this  time  many  of 
the  common  people  —  superstitiously  attached  as 
they  were  to  the  old  religion  and  its  forms  — 
should  be  disturbed  by  the  novelties  just  introduced. 
The  Romish  priests,  taking  advantage  of  the  pop 
ular  prejudices  and  of  the  oppressions  of  the  lords, 
had  represented  the  secular  grievances  of  the  labor 
ing  classes  as  occasioned  by  their  religious,  and  had 
thus  instigated  and  propelled  the  insurrections  men 
tioned,  in  the  progress  of  which  the  restoration  of 
the  old  religion  had  been  demanded.  Though  the 
disturbers  of  the  realm  had  been  subdued,  the  fever 
of  their  fanaticism  still  burned.  To  allay  it  as  far  as 
possible,  the  Court  constituted  the  six  royal  chaplains 
missionaries  itinerant,  to  preach  in  rotation  through 
all  the  shires ;  four  of  them  to  be  thus  engaged, 
while  the  other  two  should  be  about  the  Court.3 

1  McCrie's  Knox,  409.  273.    Strype's  Grindal,  7.    Strype's 

2  Pierce's  Vindication,  p.  10.  Memorials,  m.  521. 
8  Heylin's  Ref.,  95.    Burnet,  II. 


CH.  II.]  THE  REFORMATION.  27 

It  was  under  this  arrangement,  apparently,  that 
Doctor  Hooper  was  sent  to  exert  his  powerful  elo 
quence  "in  reconciling  the  people  to  the  Keforma- 
tion."  It  was  his  aim  to  effect  this  by  removing 
their  deplorable  ignorance  of  the  Gospel ;  by  show 
ing  the  worthlessness  of  Popish  mummeries ;  by 
disclosing  the  great  doctrine  of  atonement,  not  by 
acts  of  merit  or  of  penance,  but  by  the  sacrifice 
made  by  Christ  of  himself  "  once  for  all."  In  this 
way  he  labored  several  months,  with  untiring  dili 
gence  and  apostolic  fervor. 

Soon  after,  an  event  occurred,  insignificant  in 
itself,  but  memorable  as  the  germ  of  opinions  which 
have  shaken  England  to  its  centre,  and  shaped  the 
destinies  of  this  Western  World. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  FIRST  PURITAN. 

HOOPER  APPOINTED  BISHOP.  —  OBJECTS  TO  THE  MODE  OF  CONSECRATION.  — 
SUMMONED  BEFORE  THE  COUNCIL.  —  OBJECTS  TO  THE  OATH  OF  SUPREM 
ACY.  —  His  OBJECTION  ALLOWED.  —  OBJECTS  TO  THE  EPISCOPAL  GARMENTS. 

—  ARCHBISHOP  CRANMER.  —  THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  GARMENTS  DISCUSSED. — 
HOOPER'S  OBJECTIONS  DISALLOWED  BY  THE  BISHOPS.  —  THE  CONTROVERSY 
IS  EXTENDED.  —  HOOPER  RESTRAINED  FROM  PREACHING.  —  Is  CONFINED  TO 
HIS  HOUSE.  —  Is  COMMITTED  TO  CRANMER'S  CUSTODY. —  Is  SENT  TO  PRISON. 

—  PLOTS  AGAINST  HIS  LIFE.  — THE  DIFFERENCE   COMPROMISED.  —  HOOPER 
CONSECRATED.  —  HOOPER  IN  HIS  BISHOPRIC,  AND  IN  HIS  FAMILY. 

1550,  1551. 

HAMPTON  Court,  after  it  became  a  demesne  of  the 
crown,  had  always  been  free  of  access  to  the  people 
whenever  occupied  by  the  royal  family.  The  gates 
stood  open  during  the  day;  and,  when  the  season 
and  the  sunshine  were  inviting,  there  were  often  a 
great  many  there,  —  from  the  courtier  in  his  gay 
apparel,  to  the  unpretending  peasant  in  his  holiday 
dress,  —  watching  to  see  their  princes.  Such  con 
tinued  to  be  the  custom  until  Queen  Mary,  in  1554, 
immediately  upon  her  marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain, 
shut  her  gates  upon  her  plebeian  subjects,  requiring 
of  all  such  applicants  for  admission  a  satisfactory 
account  of  their  errands. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  1550,1  there  was  an 

1  Owing  to  the  apparent  varia-     omission  of  minute  dates,  it  is  diffi- 
tions  of  diiferent  writers,  and  their     cult   to  be    assured  of  the  precise 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  29 

unusual  concourse  of  different  classes  of  the  com 
monalty  about  the  palace  of  Hampton  Court,  whith 
er  the  king  had  lately  returned  from  Windsor.1  It 
was  about  an  hour  past  noon,  and  an  hour  and  a 
half  since  everybody  had  dined,  —  unless,  perchance, 
the  grandees  within  the  palace  might  have  lingered 
awhile  over  their  muscadel,  sack,  and  malmsey.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  no  one  in  sight  had  a  hungry  look ; 
yet  all  had  a  grave  one,  as  though  they  shared  in 
the  cares  of  the  state.  Instead  of  strolling  about, 
or  lounging  at  their  ease,  they  were  gathered  in 
little  knots  here  and  there ;  the  women  making  a 
great  show  in  three-cornered  Minivor  caps,  with  high 
peaks  of  dazzling  whiteness,  or  of  various-colored  vel 
vets;  while  the  men,  in  knit  caps,  silk  "thrombd" 
hats,  or  Spanish  felts,  had  a  less  stately  appearance.2 
Servitors  of  the  royal  household,  with  their  laced 
doublets,  tight  breeches,  and  slashed  sleeves,  stood 
at  different  entrances  of  the  palace.  At  a  little 

order  of   events  in  this    affair  of  dined  the  office ;  and  that  he  had 

Hooper.      Burnet    (II.   242)    says  then  stated  his  reasons  to  the  king; 

that  his  commission  was  issued  in  which,  according    to    Burnet    (IH~. 

July.      Yet  (in  III.  303)  he  gives  305),  he  did   in   presence  of  the 

the    date  of   the    appointment    in  Privy  Council.     I  do  not  find  the 

June,   and    proves   it.      Neal   also  precise  time  of  his  appearance  be- 

(I.  52)   says  July.     Both  say  that  fore   the   king   and  Council   given 

Hooper  did  not  yield  until  the  fol-  by   any  of   the    many    authorities 

lowing  March,  "  the  matter  being  which    I    have    consulted.       With 

in   suspense   nine  whole   months";  some  hesitation  I  have  assigned  it, 

which  also  fixes  the  beginning  of  in  the    text,  to   "  about   the   mid- 

the  controversy  in  June.     Strype,  die  of  June  " ;  which  perhaps  is  a 

more  consistent,  says  that  Hooper  slight  anachronism.     It  is  of  little 

"  was  nominated  in  July,  but  was  importance,  however,  while  the  facts 

not   consecrated    till   eight    months  themselves  are  so  clearly  and  uni- 

after."     A  letter  of  Hooper,  dated  formly  attested. 
June  29th,  (see  Burnet,  HI.  3Q3,)         l  Burnet,  H.  220. 
says  that  he  had  then  been  named        2  Stow,  870,  1039. 
to  be  bishop ;  that  he  had  then  de- 


30  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [On.  III. 

distance  without,  stood  a  party  whose  persons  and 
costumes  may  serve  as  specimens  of  the  motley 
concourse.  One  wore  a  doublet  of  buff  and  crimson 
tissue,  puckered  and  distended  around  the  body, — 
a  contrivance  of  the  day  by  which  lean  folks  aped 
corpulence,  which  then  stood  in  lieu  of  consequence 
and  dignity.  This  under-garment  was  surmounted 
by  a  claret-colored  mantle  of  tufted  taffety,  with 
sleeves  artistically  swollen  to  keep  the  doublet  in 
countenance.1  Another  was  covered  with  a  coarse 
but  clean  frock  or  tunic  of  woollen,  shaped  like  a 
shirt,  gathered  at  the  middle,  and  secured  about  the 
waist  by  a  leathern  girdle.  From  this  girdle  were 
suspended,  on  one  side,  a  short  dagger,  and  on  the 
other  a  large  pouch,  which  served  the  stout  yeo 
man  instead  of  pockets.  A  third  —  a  youth  —  wore 
the  plain  sad-colored  gown  and  the  cap  of  a  scholar. 
Such  were  the  different  classes  of  persons  visible 
outside  the  palace.  They  were  gathered  here  and 
there  in  groups,  as  acquaintanceship  or  chance  had 
drawn  them  together.  All  were  engaged  in  earnest 
conversation.  Some  were  expressing  their  wonder 
that  good  Master  Hooper  should  refuse  to  be  a 
bishop.  Some  were  venturing  wise  conjectures,  in 
an  oracular  way,  for  the  satisfaction  of  their  hearers, 
to  account  for  so  strange  a  fact.  Of  their  discourses, 
relating  as  they  did  to  an  affair  of  the  Church,  it  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  they  consisted,  in  large  part, 
of  confused,  and  even  ludicrous,  citations  of  the  pre 
cepts  and  facts  of  Holy  "Writ.  These  were  sufficient, 
however,  to  show  two  particulars  about  the  common 

1  Simple    taffety    was    made    of    hose.     Tufted  taffety  was  a  pecu- 
wool,  and  served  Henry  VIII.  for     liar  fabric  of  silk.     (Stow,  867.) 


CH.  in.] 


THE  FIRST  PURITAN. 


31 


people,  —  their  comparative  ignorance  of  the  Bible,1 
and  their  great  reverence  for  it  as  the  standard  of 
appeal. 

This  out-of-door  gossip  indicated,  more  truly  than 
is  usual  in  such  cases,  the  subject  then  before  the 
Privy  Council  within  the  palace.  Hooper,  by  his 
fervent  preaching  and  great  learning,  had  won  the 
esteem  and  public  patronage  of  the  Earl  of  War 
wick,  whose  chaplain  he  had  become,2  and  whose 
star  political  was  now  in  the  ascendant.  At  his 
recommendation,  the  king  had  issued  letters  ap 
pointing  Hooper  — "  without  any  seeking  of  his 
own"  —  to  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester,  which  was 
then  vacant.3  But  Hooper  —  having  serious  objec 
tions  to  being  consecrated  in  the  garments  required 


1  The  following  anecdote,  whether 
regarded  as  a  literal  fact  or  merely 
as  a  story  befitting  the  times,  illus 
trates  the  crude  and  confused  knowl 
edge  of  many  of  the  people  respect 
ing  the  Scriptures  ;  especially  if  we 
consider  the  proverb,  "  Like  priest, 
like  people."  It  was  given  by  Ayl- 
mer,  afterwards  Bishop  of  London, 
in  his  "Harbor  for  Faithful  Sub 
jects,"  published  at  Strasburgh,  dur 
ing  Queen  Mary's  reign,  in  answer 
to  Knox's  "  First  Blast  of  the  Trum 
pet."  "  In  answer  to  Knox's  argu 
ment  from  Isaiah's  words,  '  I  will 
give  you  boys  and  women  to  reign 
over  you,'  Aylmer  said, * it  was  not 
meant  of  boys  in  age,  but  in  man 
ners  ;  or  of  women  in  sex,  but  in 
feebleness  of  spirit.'  And  he  added, 
4  This  argument  ariseth  from  wrong 
understanding.  As  the  Vicar  of 


Trumpington  understood  Eli,  Eli, 
lama  sabacthani,  when  he  read  the 
Passion  upon  Palm- Sunday.  Com 
ing  to  which  place  he  stopped,  and 
calling  the  church-wardens,  said, 
'  Neighbors,  this  gear  must  be 
amended.  Here  is  Eli  twice  in 
this  book.  I  assure  you  if  my  lord 
of  Ely  come  this  way  and  see  it, 
he  will  have  the  book  (since  his 
name  is  in  it).  Therefore  by  mine 
advice  we  shall  scrape  it  out,  and 
put  in  our  own  town's  name,  viz. 
Trumpington,  Trumpington,  lama 
sabacthani.'  They  consented,  and 
he  did  so,  because  he  understood  no 
better/" —  Strype's  Aylmer,  289. 

2  Fuller,  Bk.  VII.  p.  404. 

3  Bishops  were  made,  or  appoint 
ed,  by  the  king's  letters  patent  only ; 
upon  which  they  were  to  be  conse 
crated,  although  it  was  even  held 


32 


THE  FIRST  PURITAN. 


[Cn.  III. 


by  the  rules  of  the  Church,1  and  also  to  the  oath 
to  be  taken  upon  his  induction  to  office  —  requested 
the  Archbishop  to  consecrate  him  without  the  epis 
copal  habits,  and  was  refused.2  The  Council,  anx 
ious  for  harmony  between  men  so  prominent  in 


that  consecration  was  superfluous 
after  the  creative  act  of  the  crown. 
(Macaulay,  I.  52,  N.  York  8vo 
edit.  1849.) 

Upon  the  abolition  of  the  Papal 
power,  the  show  of  an  election  by 
the  deans  and  chapters  was  con 
tinued  by  a  law  of  25  Henry  VIII. ; 
but  they  had  been  obliged  under 
the  severest  penalties  to  choose 
whom  the  king  named.  But  by 
1  Edward  VI.  cap.  2  (1547),  the 
election  of  bishops  was  transferred 
wholly  from  the  deans  and  chap 
ters  to  the  crown.  (Collier,  V. 
227,  228.  Rapin,  II.  10.  Carte, 
IH.  215.  Burnet,  H.  8,  68,  70. 
Lingard,  VII.  23.)  The  act  sets 
forth  that  all  authority  of  jurisdic 
tion,  spiritual  and  temporal,  is  de 
rived  from  the  king's  majesty  as 
supreme  head  of  these  churches. 
(Collier,  V.  231.)  The  king's  pa 
tents  ran  at  first :  "  To  A.  B.  during 
his  natural  life."  But  in  1552,  they 
were  changed  thus :  "To  A.  B.  so 
long  as  he  shall  behave  himself 
well."  Burnet  has  reversed  this 
change  (II.  8). 

Thus  the  bishops  were  chosen  by 
the  king,  and  consecrated  at  his 
command.  They  ruled  the  churches, 
conferred  orders,  and  administered 
the  sacraments,  as  his  ministers ; 
acted  only  as  his  ecclesiastical  sher 
iffs  ;  and  might  be  deprived  of  their 
sees  by  a  bare  act  of  his  will. 
(Heylin's  Ref.,  51.  Rapin,  H.  10, 


24.  Burnet,  I.  429.  Pierce,  8.) 
Each  bishop,  at  his  induction  to 
office,  was  required  to  take  the 
oath  of  supremacy,  acknowledg 
ing  the  sovereign  as  head  of  the 
Church. 

1  "  He  refused  to  wear  such  robes 
at  his  consecration  as  by  the  rules 
of  the  Church  were  required  of  him. 
And  by  the  rules  of  the  Church  it 
was  required,  that  for  his  ordinary 
habit   he   should   wear   the   rochet 
and    chiniere,   with   a  square    cap 
upon  his  head ;  and  not  officiate  at 
the  altar  without  his  cope,  or  per 
form    any   ordination    without    his 
crosier.    Encouraged  by  his  refusal, 
many  of  the  inferior  clergy  take  the 
like    exceptions   against    caps   and 
surplices,    as    also     against    gowns 
and  tippets,  the   distinct  habits  of 
their  order."  —  Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk. 
I.  Sec.  20 ;  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  7. 

"  Although  the  question  raised 
concerned  only  the  single  matter 
of  the  episcopal  robes,  yet  the 
party,  at  the  head  of  which  were 
John  Rogers,  Lecturer  in  St.  Paul's, 
and  John  Hooper,  renounced  all 
ceremonies  practised  by  the  Papists, 
conceiving  that  such  ought  not  only 
to  be  clipt  with  the  shears,  but  to 
be  shaved  with  a  razor;  yea,  all 
the  stumps  thereof  to  be  pluckt 
out."  — Fuller,  Bk.  VH.  p.  402. 

2  Heylin's  Ref.,  90.     Fuller,  Bk. 
VII.  p.  402.     Burnet,  II.  242,  243  ; 
IH.  303. 


OH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  33 

the  Church,   had   summoned   Hooper  before   them, 
hoping  to  obviate  his  scruples.1 

The  Council-chamber  was  hung  around  with  tap 
estry  of  Arras,  whose  inwoven  figures,  set  in  gor 
geous  colors,  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  all  else 
in  the  apartment,  save  the  personal  apparel  of  the 
company  and  the  decorations  of  the  royal  seat.  The 
floor,  indeed,  had  its  rare  luxury  of  carpet ;  but  there 
were  only  rude  oaken  chairs,  and  a  long,  massive 
oaken  table  for  the  accommodation  of  the  lords,  at 
one  end  of  which  sat  King  Edward  beneath  the 
canopy  of  state.  His  chair  was  covered  with  crim 
son  damask,  and  richly  ornamented ;  and  before  him, 
upon  the  table,  lay  a  cushion  of  crimson  velvet, 
bound  with  edging  of  gold.  He  wore  a  velvet  cap, 
plumed  and  jewelled,  and  a  gold  chain  about  his 
neck.  His  gown,  of  scarlet  striped  with  gold,  de 
scended  to  his  knees,  and  was  confined  about  the 
waist  by  a  white-satin  sash.  The  sleeve,  with  a 
golden  clasp  at  the  wrist,  was  open  to  the  shoulder, 
exposing  an  under-sleeve  of  rich  white  satin.  His 
hose  and  shoes  were  of  scarlet  satin.2  On  his  right 
hand  sat  Lord  St.  John,  the  President  of  the  Coun 
cil,  the  most  distinguished  of  whom  were  Cranmer, 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Tonstal,  the  Bishop 
of  Duresme  (or  Durham),  the  Earl  of  Southampton, 
the  Marquis  of  Northampton,  and  the  Earl  of  War 
wick,  afterwards  created  Duke  of  Northumberland, 
and  noted  as  father-in-law  of  the  unfortunate  Lady 
Jane  Grey.  Against  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  the 
cabals  of  his  associates  had  been  so  far  successful, 

1  Burnet,  IH.  304.  2  Strickland's  Queens  of  Eng.,  V.  41,  42. 

VOL.  i.  5 


34  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [On.  III. 

that  he  had  been  deprived  of  the  Protectorship 
and  committed  to  the  Tower,  though  recently  lib 
erated  and  now  of  the  Privy  Council.1 

The  young  king's  face,  usually  mild  and  winning, 
was  slightly  ruffled  and  flushed.  "  It  hath  pleased 
us,"  said  he,  addressing  himself  with  some  spirit  to 
Doctor  Hooper,  "to  issue  letters  under  our  royal 
seal  appointing  you  to  our  bishopric  of  Gloucester. 
We  have  not  proffered  you  this  sacred  dignity  for 
your  own  sake,  but  for  Christ's ;  for  the  sake  of  the 
Church  which  is  his  body;  that  the  gifts  of  God 
that  are  in  you  may  have  larger  range.  And  now 
you  demur!  We  are  told  that  you  do  scruple  the 
oath  and  the  vestments  of  a  bishop.  We  do  take 
it  grievously,  reverend  father." 

66  My  gracious  liege,"  replied  Hooper,  "  I  honor  and 
love  my  king ;  I  would  live  and  die  for  the  Church. 
I  humbly  crave  —  hath  your  Grace's  Highness  con 
sidered  the  bishop's  oath  of  supremacy  ?  " 

"  Marry !  no ;  save  that  it  doth  avouch  the  king 
to  be  head  of  the  English  Church;  and  that,  we 
trow,  Doctor  Hooper  will  not  gainsay.  Prithee ! 
reverend  father,  what  be  the  matter  with  the  oath  ? 
and  what  be  the  matter  with  the  vestments  ?  You 
mislike  both,  yet  you  be  no  Papist.  Tell  us,  in 
plain  English,  your  mislikings." 2 

"  I  thank  God,"  said  Hooper,  looking  upward,  and 
in  a  tone  of  impressive  solemnity,  "that  I  answer 
to  a  prince  whose  understanding  is  above  his  years, 
and  who  respecteth  the  honest  misgivings  of  the 
weakest  Christian.  Imprimis,  I  demur  to  the  oath 

1  Burnet,  II.   215-226.     Hume,         2  Burnet,  III.  303. 
II.  492-494. 


CH.  in.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  35 

of  supremacy.  I  cannot  take  it  with  a  good  con 
science." 

The  king,  the  prelates,  the  secular  nobles  —  all 
started  at  this  announcement,  and  looked  at  Doctor 
Hooper  and  at  one  another  as  if  doubting  their 
own  ears;  for  although  it  was  known  that  he  took 
exceptions  to  the  oath,  no  one  was  prepared  for 
his  refusal  of  it.  After  a  brief  silence,  the  king, 
glancing  around  the  circle,  said  half  jocosely,  "My 
Lords,  our  elect  bishop  is  in  some  rare  humor  to 
day.  We  might  dream  him  playful  were  not  the 
occasion  so  grave.  We  wait  till  he  unriddle  his 
words." 

"  Nay,  nay,  your  Majesty,"  rejoined  Hooper  eager 
ly,  "  I  be  open  and  serious  as  befitteth  the  occasion. 
It  be  not  for  lack  of  loyalty,  or  for  cavil  at  the 
king's  supremacy,  that  I  do  scruple  the  oath;  but 
for  store  of  conscience.  I  do  of  a  truth  mislike  that 
by  the  oath  one  sweareth  to  conform  to  what  he 
knoweth  not  of;  to  whatever  the  king's  highness 
may  perchance  alter  in  religion,  —  which  to  my 
seeming  maketh  so  much  of  his  certain  rightness 
as  belongeth  only  to  God.  Howbeit,  for  my  so 
great  trust  in  your  Majesty's  known  and  sure  rev- 
ence  for  God's  Word,  and  for  that  the  oath  bindeth 
only  to  your  Majesty's  life  —  which  God  preserve  !  — 
and  not  to  another's,  this  I  yield.  Nevertheless, 
there  remaineth  that  in  the  substance  and  form  of 
the  oath  which  toucheth  not  your  Majesty's  godly 
honesty,  and  of  which  I  confess  a  very  reverent 
jealousy.  Doth  it  not  savor  of  dishonor  to  God? 
Doth  not  the  appeal  of  it  put  his  creatures  as  his 
peers  ?  Its  words  be,  '  So  help  me  God,  and  all 


36  THE   FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  III. 

his  angels  and  saints/1  A  Papist  will  appeal  to 
angels  and  saints  to  witness  his  sincerity,  and  grant 
him  help.  But  to  me  it  seemeth  impious." 

"Is  that  so?"  said  Edward  gravely,  and  half 
doubtingly.  At  the  same  time  he  signalled  to  the 
Archbishop  for  a  book  which  lay  before  him.  There 
was  not  a  whisper  or  a  movement  around  the  Coun 
cil-board  while  the  king,  opening  the  leaves,  looked 
at'  the  oath,  pressed  his  hand  upon  his  brow  as  was 
his  wont  when  burdened  with  matters  of  moment, 
and  was  absorbed  in  silent  thought.  At  last,  taking 
a  pen,  he  deliberately  drew  it  across  the  objectionable 
words,2  and  exclaimed,  "Ma  foil  shall  we  harbor 
Komish  blasphemy,  my  Lords?  No  creature  is  to 
be  appealed  to  in  an  oath!"  Then,  passing  the 
book:  "There!  Doctor  Hooper  cannot  object  now. 
We  commend  your  scruples,  and  are  beholden  for 
the  opening  of  our  eyes." 

"I  was  right,"  replied  Hooper  in  a  tone  of  glad 
ness,  "in  trusting  to  your  Majesty's  discernment. 
I  object  not  to  the  oath,  so  changed." 

"  Now  you  wdll  be  a  bishop ! "  and  the  young 
king's  ingenuous  face  sparkled.  But  the  next  in 
stant,  catching  the  expression  of  Hooper's  eye,  his 
countenance  fell.  "Hold!  we  bethink  you  spake 
of  the  sacred  vestments." 

"Please  your  Majesty,  the  laws  of  the  Church 
require  a  bishop  to  be  consecrated,  and  to  officiate 
in  garments  which,  I  ween,  become  not  an  office 
so  holy." 

1  I  rely  on  Fuller's  citation  of  Burnet,  III.  305,   Carte,  HI.  253, 

this  oath  (Worthies,  III.  92,  93),  as  and  Neal,  I.  52,  it  is  very  odd. 

the   only  one  which  I  find  having  2  Burnet,  in.  305.   Brook,  I.  7,  8. 

evidence  of  sense.      As  stated  in  Carte,  III.  253.     P.  S.  Memoir,  xii. 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  37 

"Mis-be-come  —  the  office  !"  exclaimed  the  king,  in 
deliberate  amazement.  "  Mis-be-come  —  the  office ! 
Heaven  forefend!" 

"To  my  thinking,  gracious  king,  their  fashion 
mal-suiteth  the  ministers  of  Christ." 

u  Odds  my  life,  sir !  art  nice  on  the  cut  of  a 
surplice,  a  chimere,  a  rochet?" 

"  God  forbid ! "  replied  Hooper  devoutly ;  a  but  it 
seemeth  to  me  that  our  array  should  be  suiting  the 
simplicity  of  the  Gospel." 

"Good  father,  it  hath  always  been  in  use." 

"  By  your  Highness's  favor,  not  so.  These  vestr 
ments  are  the  inventions  of  men,  introduced  into 
the  Church  in  its  corruptest  ages.  The  bishops' 
wearing  of  these  white  ,  rochets  began  first  of  Sisi- 
mius,  a  heretic  bishop  of  the  Novatians ;  and  these 
other  have  the  like  foundation.  They  have  no 
countenance,  methinks,  in  the  New  Testament,  or 
in  the  usage  of  the  primitive  Christians.  But  they 
have  been  so  long  continued,  and  pleased  Popery, 
which  is  beggarly  patched  up  of  all  sorts  of  ceremo 
nies,  that  they  could  never  be  rooted  out  since, 
even  from  many  professors  of  the  truth." 

"  Heigh-ho !     My  lord  of  Canterbury,  is  that  so  ?  " 

Cranmer  was  a  princely  Christian ;  his  errors,  like 
chance  rents  in  a  royal  robe;  his  rare  and  sterling 
virtues,  like  a  diadem  on  a  royal  brow.  His  body 
perished  at  the  stake.  So,  perhaps,  perish  some 
of  his  deeds l  when  tried  as  by  fire ;  but  his  good- 


1  In  penning  these  words,  I  had  sign  a  warrant  for  the   burning  of 

reference    to    the    charge    against  Joan  Boucher,  otherwise  called  Joan 

Cranmer,  of  vehemently  urging,  and  of  Kent.     I  have  since  met  with  a 

prevailing  with,  the  young  king  to  paragraph  in  the  Parker  Society's 


38 


THE  FIRST  PURITAN. 


[Cn.  III. 


ness  —  like  his  heart,  unscathed  and  entire  in 
his  ashes l  —  survives  the  test.  In  the  midst  of  a 
crooked  and  perverse  generation,  he  shone  as  a 
light  in  the  world.  Surrounded  by  men  of  the 


Biographical  Notice  of  Roger  Hutch- 
inson  (pp.  iv.,  v.),  to  which  I  refer 
with  pleasure  as  removing  this  stig 
ma  from  the  name  of  Cranmer.  It 
would  seem  from  the  very  records 
of  Council,  that  King  Edward  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  signing 
the  death-warrant ;  but  the  Council 
only.  Hallam,  in  referring  to  this 
paragraph  in  the  Memoir  of  Hutch- 
inson,  says,  "  Perhaps  it  is  better 
that  the  whole  anecdote  should 
vanish  from  history  "  ;  yet  he  retains 
it  in  his  own  text. 

"A  warrant,  dated  April  27th, 
was  issued  by  order  of  Council  to 
the  Lord  Chancellor,  to  make  out  a 
writ  to  the  Sheriff  of  London  for 
her  execution.  These  are  the  words 
of  the  Council  Book.  The  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury  was  not  then 
present  at  the  Council  Board."  — 
Strype's  Memorials,  ITT.  335.  See 
also  IV.  183,  184. 

Lingard  (VII.  74,  note)  replies 
to  Strype  thus:  "But  that  he" 
(Cranmer)  "  was  present,  and  ac 
tually  pronounced  the  judgment, 
appears  from  his  own  Register,  folio 
74,  5."  This  counter  statement  is, 
at  first  view,  perplexing.  But  a 
satisfactory  answer  has  been  politely 
furnished  to  me  by  Professor  C.  C. 
Jewett,  of  the  Boston  City  Library, 
in  the  words  following  :  — 

"  I  have  examined  the  note  of 
Lingard  (VII.  74),  to  which  you 
have  called  my  attention.  It  seems 


to  me  plain  that  he  confounds  the 
proceedings  of  two  entirely  distinct 
tribunals  respecting  Joan  of  Kent ; 
namely,  those  of  the  Commissioners 
appointed  '  ad  inquirendum  super 
hasretica  pravitate,'  and  those  of 
the  Privy  Council. 

"  The  Commissioners  sentenced 
Joan  to  excommunication,  and  de 
livered  her  over  to  the  secular  arm, 
on  the  15th  of  April,  1549.  The 
Council,  a  year  afterwards,  27th 
April,  1550,  signed  the  warrant  for 
her  execution. 

"  Cranmer  was  a  member  of  both 
bodies.  He  was  present  with  the 
Commissioners,  and  signed  their  sen 
tence  against  Joan.  This  appears 
by  his  Register,  folio  74,  5.  He 
was  not  present  with  the  Council 
when  the  warrant  was  issued  for  her 
execution.  This  appears  by  the 
entry  in  the  Council  Book,  which  is 
quoted  in  the  Biographical  Notice  of 
Roger  Hutchinson,  prefixed  to  his 
Works,  published  by  the  Parker  So 
ciety,  p.  v.,  note. 

"Strype  asserted  that  Cranmer 
'was  not  present  at  her  condem 
nation,  as  appears  by  the  Council 
Book,'  that  is,  at  her  condemna 
tion  to  death  by  the  Council.  To 
this  Lingard  replies,  '  that  he  was 
present,  and  actually  pronounced 
the  judgment,  appears  from  his  own 
Register,  folio  74,  5.'  But  Cran- 
mer's  Register  contains,  in  the  pas 
sage  referred  to,  the  proceedings 


1  Fox,  H.  99.     Fuller's  Worthies,  H.  570. 


Ca  III.J  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  39 

fiercest  passions,  he  had  ever  been  mild  and  gentle ; 
often  disarming,  by  a  look  or  a  word,  the  jealousy 
and  wrath  of  a  most  despotic  prince.  Among  men 
whose  greatest  aim  and  daily  craft  was  dissimulation, 
he  was  ingenuous  and  guileless  as  a  child.  He 
never  cloaked  an  opinion,  disowned  a  friend,  or 
denied  forgiveness  of  a  wrong.  "The  way  to  get 
his  favor  was  —  to  do  him  an  injury."  It  had  passed 
into  a  common  proverb,  "Do  unto  my  lord  of 
Canterbury  displeasure,  or  a  shrewd  turn,  and  then 
you  may  be  sure  to  have  him  your  friend  while 
he  liveth."  He  had  stood  godfather  to  him  who 
was  now  his  liege  in  church  and  state,1  and  had 
cherished  for  him  alike  the  love  of  a  father  and 
the  reverence  of  a  subject.  The  youthful  monarch's 
words,  "  My  lord  of  Canterbury,  is  it  so  ? "  were, 
therefore,  like  an  appeal  to  an  oracle.  He  was  now 
sixty  years  of  age ;  his  figure  erect,  venerable, 
apostolic ;  his  head,  bald  ;  his  beard,  —  for  no  razor 
had  come  upon  it  since  Henry's  death,  —  of  the 
finest  texture,  white  and  long.  When  such  an  one 
spake  in  the  Council  of  the  nation,  he  was  a  bold 
man  who  could  speak  against  him.2 

of  the  Commissioners,  and  not  those  by   Lingard  is    copied    in    full   in 
of  the    Council.     It   gives   nothing  Wilkins's  Concilia,  IV.  42,  43." 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  Council,  The    inquisitive    reader   will   be 
which     '  appear     by    the     Council  repaid  by  comparing  this  opinion  of 
Book,'  and  are  alluded  to  by  Strype.  Professor  Jewett  with  the  Biograph- 
"It  may  be  proper  to  add,  that  ical   sketch   of  Roger    Hutchinson, 
the  Registers  of  the  Archbishops  of  referred  to  above,  and  written  by 
Canterbury  from  A.D.  1278  to  1747  John  Bruce,  Esquire, 
are  in  manuscript,  and  are  preserved  l  Strype's   Cranmer,    142.      Col 
in  the  Lambeth  Library,  in  68  vols.  Her,  V.  177. 

The  continuations  are  in  the  Vicar-  2  Fox,   HL    637,    671.      Strype's 

General's    Office  in  Doctors'  Com-  Cranmer,  429.    Burnet,  I.  403,  528  ; 

mons.     But  the  passage  referred  to  11.521-523. 


40  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  HI. 

To  the  king's  question  he  honestly  replied :  "  My 
gracious  liege,  I  cannot  gainsay  it.  Yet,  me  thinks, 
the  vestments  so  long  sanctioned  by  the  Church,  and 
still  enjoined  by  her  laws,  should  be  respected  and 
retained  by  her  clergy.  They  have  descended  to  us 
through  many  generations." 

"  Our  venerable  Primate  answereth  truly,"  replied 
Hooper.  "  Yet  the  usage  of  generations  is  not  suf 
ficient  warrant  in  religious  matters." 

"  I'  faith !  this  be  an  odd  question  and  a  new,"  said 
Edward.  "We  marvel  at  it.  Talk  it  out;  talk  it 
out,  reverend  sirs.  We  would  understand  it." 

"I  do  humbly  conceive,  an  it  please  your  Majesty," 
said  the  Archbishop,  u  that  in  matters  of  faith,  tradi 
tion  is  not  authority.  But  touching  rites  and  cere 
monies,  long  usage  seemeth  a  good  argument  for 
their  continuing." 

"  Such  a  rule  reacheth  too  far  for  our  use,"  replied 
Hooper.  "It  bringeth  his  Grace  under  doom;  it 
bringeth  your  Majesty  under  doom;  it  bringeth  us 
all  under  doom;  —  for  we  have  abolished  offering 
incense  to  images  and  praying  to  saints,  which  are 
Popish  rites  as  old  as  Popish  garments.  An  the 
garments  ought  to  be  retained  because  they  are 
old,  why  not  incense  to  images,  and  prayers  to 
saints?" 

"  They  be  idolatrous  and  sinful,"  rejoined  Cranmer. 

"So,  I  aver,  are  sacrificial  robes  on  our  clergy," 
retorted  the  bishop  elect ;  "  for  they  utter  a  lie  and 
suppose  an  idol.  I  beseech  your  Majesty  to  consider 
this,"  he  continued  with  earnestness.  "These  gar 
ments  of  the  clergy  be  the  scarlet  woman's  livery. 
Avaunt  with  her  badges!" 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  41 

"  The  cope,  the  surplice,  the  cap,  the  tippet,  are 
enjoined  by  the  rules  of  the  Church,"  said  Cranmer, 
"  and  therefore  ought  to  be  used ;  for  in  themselves 
they  are  neither  good  nor  bad.  Even  if  not  exactly 
befitting,  they  be  at  least  lawful,  and  required  by 
our  laws;  therefore  they  ought  not  to  be  refused. 
That  they  have  been  used,  or  even  abused,  by  the 
Eomish  Church,  toucheth  not  the  question.  We 
use  them  in  a  holy  service.  We  use  them  for  God's 
honor,  and  in  God's  temple.  <  The  temple  sanctifieth 
the  gold;  the  altar,  the  gift/  said  Christ.  So  our 
holy  service  sanctifieth  the  garments." 

"  Certes !  doth  not  his  Grace  speak  discreetly  ? " 
said  Edward,  turning  to  Hooper. 

u  Surely,  your  Majesty  would  not  have  me  beg 
clothes  from  the  Devil's  vestry  to  serve  God  in!" 

"  By  our  halidom,  man !  thou  'rt  mad  sure ! " 
exclaimed  the  king  in  amazement. 

"  An  it  please  your  Majesty,  I  '11  e'en  say,  like 
Paul,  I  am  not  mad,  most  noble  sovereign,  but 
speak  forth  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness.  His 
Grace  of  Canterbury  saith  that  the  garments  of  the 
clergy  be  neither  good  nor  bad.  In  good  sooth,  he 
be  right.  But,  an  I  dispense  the  sacraments  of 
Christ  in  a  Moslem  turban,  and  wearing  on  my 
clerk's  robe  the  Moslem  crescent,  would  not  your 
Majesty  then  think  me  mad  ?  Would  not  you  judge 
me  to  be  profaning  the  service  of  Christ?  Would 
not  the  people  tear  me  in  pieces?  Might  I  say, 
The  turban  and  the  crescent  are  neither  good  nor 
bad?  Might  I  say,  The  temple  sanctifieth  the 
turban,  —  the  altar,  the  crescent?  Might  I  say, 
The  crescent  is  as  good  as  the  cross?  God  forbid! 


VOL.   I. 


42  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  III. 

But  why  not  ?  Because  the  turban  and  the  crescent 
are  badges  and  symbols  of  an  accursed  religion, 
and  they  will  remain  so,  though  the  Church  do 
make  a  thousand  laws  contrarient.1  Yet  in  itself, 
the  turban  is  nothing;  in  itself,  the  crescent  is 
nothing.  If,  then,  I  minister  in  a  Romish  scarf  and 
a  Romish  cope,  what  do  I  better?  They  too  are 
badges  and  symbols  of  a  false  religion." 

King  Edward  passed  his  hand  slowly  across  his 
brow,  and  said,  with  a  sigh,  "  On  my  life !  what 
shall  a  youth  do  when  the  doctors  differ?  God 
help  us!" 

"Amen  ! "  responded  Hooper.  "  My  gracious  liege, 
it  is  fit,  I  ween,  that  the  ministers  of  the  cross  be  so 
clad  as  to  designate  their  office.  I  would  that  they 
should  be.  But  I  would  have  them  clad  as  becometh 
the  Gospel,  not  in  the  uniform  of  the  Pope;  as 
becometh  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  not  the  doc 
trine  of  devils." 

"Prithee,  good  doctor,  what  next?"  asked  the 
king,  nervously.  "  The  doctrine  of  devils  in  a  bish 
op's  robes  !  Your  meaning,  reverend  sir  ?  " 

"With  all  humility  and  honesty,  my  liege.  The 
garments  required  by  the  rules  of  the  Church  are 
more  than  the  symbols  of  a  false  faith.  They  are 
badges  of  a  priesthood.  Aaron  was  a  priest,  offer 
ing  the  sacrifice  of  atonement  foreshadowing  that 
of  Christ.  His  robes  were  part  of  the  ceremony 
of  sacrifice;  peculiar  to  his  priestly  office;  and 
proper,  because  appointed  by  God  himself.  But 
the  priesthood  of  Aaron  is  done  away  by  Christ's 
sacrifice  of  himself  once  for  all.  The  like  badges, 

1  Compare  Strype's  Annals,  Vol.  IV,  Appendix,  Bk.  I.  No.  XII. 


CH.  in.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  43 

adopted  by  the  Church  of  Home,  have  implied  a 
like  sacrificing  act  by  those  who  have  worn  them. 
They  have  implied  a  sacrificial  atonement  in  the 
Lord's  Supper;  which  is  a  lie  and  a  blasphemy. 
They  have  implied  that  the  elements  of  the  Supper 
were  very  God,  and  to  be  adored  as  God ;  which  is 
abominable  idolatry  and  a  doctrine  of  devils.  Thus 
the  garments  belong,  not  to  the  pure  worship  of  God, 
but  to  idol-worship.  They  are  a  part  of  it." 

"  Which  argueth  too  much/'  interposed  Cranmer ; 
"for  a  former  abuse  of  these  vestments  is  no  better 
reason  for  taking  away  their  use,  than  it  is  to  throw 
down  churches,  or  take  away  bells,  because  they 
have  been  used  for  the  idolatries  and  false  doctrines 
of  Eome.  Would  Doctor  Hooper  deal  with  these 
two,  as  he  proposeth  to  deal  with  the  episcopal  gar 
ments  ?  Why  not  ?  " 

"As  fast  as  either  one  of  you  taketh  his  stand 
like  a  man,  the  other  trippeth  him  up,"  exclaimed 
the  young  monarch.  "How  now,  good  Doctor 
Hooper?" 

"An  it  please  your  Majesty,"  replied  Hooper, 
"  the  whole  truth  is  not  yet  told.  I  have  said,  that 
the  vestments  be  symbols  of  Antichrist.  I  have 
said,  that  they  have  been  abused  to  idolatry.  I  now 
say,  that  they  be  yet  abused  to  idolatry,  and  will 
continue  to  be;  which  is  not  true  of  churches  or 
bells.  They  who  be  not  yet  weaned  from  the  idol 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  be  sustained  therein 
by  the  use  of  garments  which  do  denote  a  priesthood 
and  a  sacrifice.  Albeit  they  be  only  dumb  rags, 
they  be  written  all  over,  '  Mass !  Mass ! '  More 
over,  the  people  do  still  think  them  to  have  a 


44  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cii.  III. 

magical  effect  upon  the  bread  and  the  wine  of  the 
Supper,  as  transforming  the  elements  into  Christ, 
to  be  worshipped  and  sacrificed  afresh  as  their  pro 
pitiation.  In  using  the  garments,  we  do  therefore 
cherish  their  superstition  and  invite  their  idolatry. 
Besides,  they  fancy  that  there  resideth  in  this 
Aaronical  gear  a  sanctifying  property  which  giveth 
efficacy  to  the  prayers,  so  that  prayers  or  any  other 
divine  service  would  be  vain  without  them.  In  fine, 
your  Highness,  they  regard  them  with  religious  awe 
and  reverence,  as  if  even  the  garments  themselves 
did  partake  of  divine  holiness, — just  as  they  have 
regarded  images,  and  such  like,  which,  for  that 
very  reason,  your  Majesty  hath  removed  from  the 
churches.1  In  your  royal  father's  day,  there  were 
certain  pretended  relics,  —  quantities  of  the  Virgin 
Mary's  milk,  shrined  in  no  less  than  eight  different 
places ;  the  coals  which  roasted  Saint  Lawrence ;  a 
bottle  of  the  darkness  of  Egypt ;  the  spear  —  half 
a  score  of  them,  I  trow  —  that  pierced  our  Saviour. 
Then  there  was  the  Eood  of  Boxley,  commonly 
called  the  Rood  of  Grace,  an  old  rotten  stock 
wherein  a  man  should  stand  enclosed,  with  an 
hundred  wires  within  the  Rood  to  make  the  image 
goggle  with  the  eyes,  to  nod  with  the  head,  to  hang 
the  lip,  to  move  and  shake  his  jaws,  according  as 
the  value  was  of  the  gift  offered  to  it.  If  it  were 
a  small  piece  of  silver,  he  would  hang  a  frowning 
lip  and  pout ;  if  it  were  a  piece  of  gold,  then  would 
his  jaws  go  merrily.2  There  was  also  the  Rood 

1  Stow,  595.     Heylin's  Ref.,  42.       one  Nicholas  Patridge.     The  image 

2  "  The  Rood  of  Boxley,  a  fraud    was  exhibited  with  its  wheel-work 
of  machinery  detected,  in  1538,  by     at  Maidstone  and  London,  to  the 


CH.  Ill]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  45 

of  Bermondsey  Abbey  in  Southwark,  which  did 
behave  after  the  same  marvellous  fashion.  To  all 
these  things  the  people  did  render  religious  homage, 
and  therefore  they  were  destroyed;  the  Koods,  in 
the  very  year  of  your  Majesty's  birth,  —  fit  omen, 
God  grant!  of  your  Majesty's  reign.1  If  the  idolizing 
of  fantastical  relics  and  impostures  in  King  Henry's 
day,  and  the  idolizing  of  images  in  your  Majesty's 
day, —  all  which  things  were  in  themselves  neither 
good  nor  bad,  —  be  counted  good  reason  for  their 
destruction,  may  I  not  in  good  faith  scruple  to  wear, 
in  Christ's  name,  a  garment  which  also  is  idolized? 
"  But  the  laws  of  the  Church  require  the  rochet, 
the  chimere,  and  the  crosier,  and  God's  Word  doth 
not  forbid  them.  Be  it  so.  Nor  doth  God's  Word 
require  them ;  and  it  be  my  most  solemn  conviction, 
that  in  religion  the  Church  hath  no  right  to  require, 
nor  we  a  right  to  adopt,  any  custom  which  hath 
religious  significance  or  effect,  and  which  hath  not 
the  very  warrant  and  sanction  of  the  Scripture. 
Master  Calvin's  rule  be  a  godly  one  and  discreet, — 
that  in  carrying  on  the  work  of  a  reformation, 
there  is  not  anything  to  be  exacted  which  is  not 
warranted  and  required  by  the  Word  of  God ;  that 
in  such  cases  there  be  no  rule  left  for  worldly 
wisdom,  but  all  things  are  to  be  ordered  only  as 


infinite    amusement  of   all  classes,  tonishment,  seized  the  people,  and 

It  had    been   famous  for   ages   all  mortification  at  having  been  cheated, 

over   England ;    and   people   came  A  great  outcry  was  raised ;  the  idol 

from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  was  pulled  about,  broken  in  pieces, 

country  to  gaze   at  it.     By  order  and  burnt."  —  Knight's  London,  I. 

of  Council,  it  was  brought  to  Paul's  47,  48,  Lond.  edit.  1851. 
Cross  and  elevated  to  public  view.        :  Fox,  II.  512.     Heylin's  Ref.,  9, 

(Stow,  575.)    Admiration,  rage,  as-  10.     Neal,  I.  35.     Hume,  II.  393. 


46  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  III. 

directed  by  God's  will  revealed.1  Moreover,  there 
be  that  of  richness  and  pomp  in  the  episcopal  rai 
ment  which  dazzleth  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and 
breaketh  their  devoutness;  which  would  not  be, 
were  the  habit  plain  and  in  Gospel  simplicity. 
Albeit  my  conscience  be  weak,  I  pray  your  Majesty 
to  favor  it.  Spare  me,  gracious  prince,  from  doing 
in  God's  name  what  I  think  doth  cherish  idolatry 
in  others.  God  grant  you  to  see  this  as  I  see  it; 
for  upon  whatever  your  Majesty  ordaineth,  being 
supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  English  Church,  de- 
pendeth  the  soul-weal  of  your  subjects.  And  thus  I 
lay  my  prayer  at  your  Majesty's  feet."2 

Thus  did  Hooper  plead  against  those  relics  of 
Popery  which  the  Reforming  Church  of  England  had 
retained.  Nor  was  his  pleading  without  effect ;  the 
King  and  Council,  not  excepting  the  Archbishop, 
felt  the  force  of  his  reasoning,  and  were  disposed  to 
yield.  But  others,  particularly  Ridley,  Bishop  of 
London,  and  Goodrick,  Bishop  of  Ely,  insisted  that 
God  regardeth  not  the  outward  appearance;  that 
the  fashion  of  a  garment  is  a  matter  of  utter  indif 
ference  as  a  question  of  right  or  wrong ;  and  that, 
therefore,  the  laws  concerning  the  vestments  ought 
to  be  insisted  upon. 

Under  these  embarrasments,  Hooper  obtained, 
and  presented  with  his  own  hands  to  Cranmer,  a 
letter  from  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  dated  July  23d, 
interceding  that  the  rules  of  the  Church  might  be 


1  Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  3.  Worthies,  HI.  93.     Collier,  V.  388- 

2  For    the   several    points  made  390.     Pierce,  44.     Burnet,  II.  243. 
between  Cranmer  and  Hooper,  see  Neal,1.47,  51,  52.    Parker  Society's 
Strype's    Cranmer,    213.      Fuller's  Biog.  Sketch  of  Hooper,  xii. 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  47 

waived ;  to  which  the  Archbishop  objected  in  reply, 
that  he  could  not  dispense  with  the  rules  without 
being  in  danger  of  the  penalty  of  a  prcemunire. 
Hooper  then  petitioned  the  king  that  he  might  be 
excused  from  the  ceremonial  orders,  or  be  discharged 
of  his  bishopric.  The  first,  Edward  immediately 
granted;  at  the  same  time  writing  to  Cranmer, 

August    5th,    warranting   him    as    follows :  " 

From  consecrating  of  whom,  we  understand  you 
do  stay,  because  he  would  have  you  omit  certain 
Kites  and  Ceremonies  offensive  to  his  conscience, 
whereby  ye  thinke,  you  should  fall  in  Prsemunire 
of  Laws  :  We  have  thought  good  by  advice  of  Our 
Councel  aforesaid,  to  dispense,  and  discharge  you 
of  all  manner  of  dangers,  penalties,  and  forfeitures 
you  should  run  into,  and  be  in  any  manner  of  way, 
by  omitting  any  of  the  same.  And  these  Our  Letters 
shall  be  your  sufficient  warrant,  and  discharge  there 
fore.  Given  under  Our  Signet,  at  our  Castle  of 
Windsor,  the  fourth  year  of  Our  Reign." 

But  here  was  no  command  to  proceed  in  the 
premises ;  and  the  bishops  still  held  their  position. 
They  objected,  that  Hooper  was  unreasonably  scru 
pulous  about  trifles  ;  that  "  the  fault  was  in  the  abuse 
of  the  things,  and  not  in  the  things  themselves " ; 
that  dispensing  with  the  required  apparel  would 
reflect  odium  upon  the  Church  which  required  it ; 
that  a  law  should  not  be  lightly  suspended  to  hu 
mor  an  individual;  that,  although  they  themselves 
wished  the  pomp  of  the  episcopal  habits  were  done 
away,  yet  dispensing  with  an  existing  law  would  be 
a  bad  precedent  and  have  bad  consequences ;  but 
especially,  that  the  king's  private  will,  although 


48 


THE  FIRST  PURITAN. 


[Cn.  III. 


sanctioned  by  advice  of  Council  and  by  the  royal 
seal,  could  not  free  them  from  the  obligations  and 
penalties  of  his  public  will,  as  expressed  in  the  laws.1 
Eidley  held  warm  and  repeated  discussions  with 
Hooper  upon  the  question  at  issue.  The  controversy 
became  an  exciting  one.  Foreigners  were  enlisted 
in  it ;  —  Peter  Martyr,  of  the  University  of  Oxford  ; 
Martin  Bucer,  of  Cambridge;  Bullinger  and  Gual- 
ter,  in  Switzerland ;  John  Alasco  and  Micronius,  in 
London.2  The  two  latter  encouraged  Hooper  in 


1  Fox,  HI.    146,    147.      Strype's 
Cranmer,  211.     Fuller,  Bk.  VII.  p. 
403.     Heylin's  Ref.,  90,  91  ;  Presb., 
Bk.  VI.  Sec.  7.     Camden's  Elizab., 
309.     Collier,  V.  387.     Burnet,  II. 
245,  24G ;  III.  304  -  306.    Carte,  III. 
253.     Neal,  I.  52.     Parker  Society's 
Mem.  of  Hooper,  xii.,  xiii. 

2  These    foreigners     residing    in 
England  merit  more  than  the  pass 
ing  notice  in  the  text.     Soon  after 
the   accession    of  Edward,   Martin 
Bucer,   Peter  Martyr,  and   others, 
had  been   invited  by  Cranmer  to 
take  refuge   in   England  from  the 
religious  persecution  to  which  they 
were  exposed  in  Germany.     Bucer 
and  Martyr  were  appointed  teach 
ers  of  evangelical  doctrines  in  the 
Universities ;   the   former,  at   Cam 
bridge ;     the     latter,     at     Oxford. 
(Fox,  II.  654.    Holingshed,  IV.  742, 
743.     Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec. 
2.      Strype's    Cranmer,    196-198. 
Strype's   Whitgift,    389.      N.   Eng. 
Hist,  and  Gen.  Register,  V.  150.) 

There  were  many  other  Protes 
tant  refugees  in  England,  from 
France  and  Germany.  Among 
them,  Valeran  Polan,  who  had  fled 
from  Strasburg,  "a  man  of  great 


worth  and  integrity  " ;  and  John  Alas 
co  (or  a  Lasco),  uncle  to  the  king  of 
Poland.  (Fox,  III.  40.)  For  a  full 
account  of  these  men  and  their 
position  in  England,  see  Strype's 
Cranmer,  Bk.  II.  Chapters  XXII., 
XXIII. ;  Heylin's  Ref.,  89  ;  and  Hey 
lin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  4. 

In  1550,  through  the  influence 
of  Cecil,  Cheeke,  and  Cranmer, 
these  strangers  were  allowed  to 
form  distinct  religious  congrega 
tions.  "John  Alasco  stipulated  for 
a  secure  retreat  and  competent  pro 
vision  for  himself  and  flock ;  assuring 
the  Duke  of  Somerset  that  it  would 
introduce  new  trade  and  gainful 
manufacture.  He  desired  that  they 
might  be  incorporated  by  the  king's 
letters  patent,  with  certain  privi 
leges;  and  obtained  a  pension  of 
one  hundred  pounds  a  year,  with 
a  patent  of  naturalization  for  him 
self,  his  wife,  and  children.  A 
charter  was  passed,  July  24th,  con 
stituting  the  German  refugees  a 
body  corporate,  under  the  direction 
of  Alasco  their  superintendent" 
(bishop)  "  and  four  other  ministers, 
with  power  to  increase  their  num 
bers  and  choose  their  successors,  if 


CH.  III.] 


THE  FIRST  PURITAN. 


49 


his  refusal.  The  others,  unwilling  that  a  preacher 
of  so  much  worth  should  be  silenced,  and  that 
scandal  of  quarrel  should  pertain  to  the  cause  of 
the  Keformation,  advised  him  to  suffer  the  ecclesias 
tical  vestments  while  required  by  law,  although 
they  also  regarded  them  as  unchristian  inventions. 
Hooper,  however,  continued  of  the  same  mind ; 
while  the  bishops  would  neither  consent  to  release 
him  from  office,  nor  to  consecrate  him  without  the 


the  king  approved  the  choice.  The 
Church  of  the  Augustine  Friars,  its 
soil,  site,  and  appurtenances,  were 
granted  them  for  holding  their  re 
ligious  assemblies ;  and  they  were 
authorized  to  use  their  own  rites 
and  ceremonies  in  the  worship  of 
God,  and  to  exercise  their  own 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  though  they 
differed  from  the  government  and 
forms  of  worship  established  in  the 
Church  of  England.  A  shoal  of 
Germans,  Poles,  and  other  foreign 
ers,  upon  this  encouragement,  and 
the  privileges  of  naturalization  ena 
bling  them  to  trade  with  the  same 
freedom  and  advantages  as  the 
natives,  came  over  to  London,  and 
settled  in  different  parts  of  the  city. 
"Another  church  of  strangers, 
mostly  Wallons  and  French,  with 
Valeran  Polan,  their  spiritual  su 
perintendent"  (pastor),  "settled  at 
the  same  time  in  Glastenbury 
(Strype's  Memorials,  IH.  378,  Mc- 
Crie,  98,  note),  under  protection 
of  Somerset,  with  a  grant  of  the 
site  and  demesnes  of  that  dissolved 
abbey.  These,  being  weavers  and 
workers  in  kerseys  and  the  like 
cloths,  served  to  introduce  that 
manufacture  into  the  country. 

VOL.    I.  7 


"  A  French  congregation,  and 
another  of  Italians,  were  likewise 
set  up  in  London,  subject  to  Alasco's 
inspection,  whose  jurisdiction  or  su- 
perintendency  extended  over  all 
the  churches  of  foreigners  in  the 
city,  and  over  their  schools  of  learn 
ing  and  education.  The  motive  of 
the  government  in  granting  these 
privileges  was,  compassion  for  stran 
gers  persecuted  and  denied  the 
exercise  of  religion  in  their  own 
country." —  Carte,  III.  251,  252. 

Alasco  himself  states  another  rea 
son,  of  more  interest  to  the  student 
of  the  English  Reformation :  "  King 
Edward  desired  that  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  used  under  Popery  should 
be  purged  out  by  degrees ;  that  stran 
gers  should  have  churches  to  perform 
all  things  according  to  apostolic 
injunction  only,  that  by  this  means 
the  English  churches  might  be  excited 
to  embrace  apostolic  purity  with  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  estates  of 
the  kingdom.'"  (Neal,  I.  55,  56. 
McCrie,  412.) 

"  The  Arcbhishop  of  Canterbury 
and  the  other  bishops  were  forbid 
den  to  cite  them  into  their  courts." 
—  Collier,  V.  386. 


50  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  III. 

offensive  robes.  So  the  difference  remained  ;  —  the 
sticklers  for  laws  which  they  disapproved,  on  the 
one  side ;  the  dissenter  from  laws  which  he  thought 
conducive  to  idolatry,  on  the  other.1 

Who  contended  for  trifles,  —  Hooper,  who  objected 
to  the  use  of  garments  which  tended  to  idolatry, 
or  they  who  would  enforce  their  use  for  the  sake  of 
extorting  obedience?  Hooper,  who  did  not  crave 
to  be  bishop,  or  they  who  would  neither  let  him 
be  bishop  without  the  robes,  nor  let  him  be  no 
bishop  ?  Hooper,  who  did  not  crave  to  be  bishop, 
or  they  who,  for  the  sake  of  a  cap  with  corners 
and  a  cope  with  tassels,  would  compel  him? 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  The  bishops  could  not 
recede,  after  having  taken  such  ground,  without 
suffering  in  reputation.  So  they  persuaded  the 
Council  to  insist ;  to  put  the  screw  of  the  law  upon 
the  elect  bishop,  and  to  turn  it  until  he  should 
repent.  It  is  said,  too,  —  but  with  what  reason 
does  not  appear,  —  that  they  wrought  also  with  the 
king,  until  "  he  grew  very  angry  with  Hooper  for  his 
unreasonable  stiffness." 

Hooper,  a  man  of  rare  boldness  and  strong  feel 
ings,  was  impelled  by  this  state  of  things  to  preach 
freely  in  London  upon  the  matters  in  controversy; 
doubtless  with  much  vehemence  and  asperity,  for 
Peter  Martyr,  to  whom  he  wrote  for  counsel,  after 
expressing  his  opinion  as  stated  above,  cautioned 
him  against  his  "unseasonable  and  too  bitter  ser 
mons."2  Whereupon  the  Council  forbade  him  to 

1  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.    7.     1.52.    Parker  Society's  Mem.,  xii.  - 
Strype's  Cranmer,  212.     Carte,  III.     xiv. 
254.     Burnet,  III.  304  -  306.     Neal,        2  I  see  no  reason  for  the  state- 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  51 

preach  or  to  read  divine  service  without  further 
license ;  and  told  him  to  stay  in  his  own  house, 
except  to  talk  with  three  or  four  of  the  bishops  for 
the  sake  of  being  converted.  He  complained  some 
of  this,  saying  openly,  that  he  thought  it  rather  hard 
to  be  plagued  so  about  clothes  by  men  of  his  own 
Church,  —  to  lose  his  liberty  because  he  would  not 
be  a  bishop  and  in  the  fashion.  He  also  published 
a  book  upon  the  subject. 

For  this  conduct  and  contumacy,  the  Council 
pressed  harder  upon  him,  and  told  him,  on  the  13th 
of  January,  1550—1,  to  leave  his  wife  and  children 
and  live  in  Cranmer's  custody;  giving  him  the 
choice  there  to  be  converted,  or  to  be  punished 
more.  Ridley  was  at  the  bottom  of  this,  I  suppose, 
—  Ridley  and  Goodrick.  Of  course  Hooper  went; 
but  the  Archbishop  reported  that  he  could  in  no  sort 
work  the  man's  conversion.  When  the  Council 
found,  on  the  27th  of  the  month,  that  he  kept 
unconverted,  they  were  astonished  to  find  what  a 
hard-hearted  man  they  were  trying  to  make  a 
bishop  of.  So  they  wrenched  the  screw  again,  and 
sent  him  to  the  Fleet  prison,  to  see  what  converting 
virtue  there  might  be  in  a  heavy  oaken  door  with 
bolts  and  locks  on  it,  and  in  a  cell  with  a  little 
grated  window  in  it,  and  in  a  lone  deal  table  with 
a  bit  of  bread  and  a  mug  of  water  on  it.  The 


ment  in  the  Biographical  Notice  of  authority.     The   charge  of  "  great 

Hooper  by  the  Parker  Society,  that  asperity  "  on  the  part  of  Cranmer, 

he  preached  against  the  oath  and  preferred  by  the  same  writer,  also 

the   vestments    before  his   appoint-  seems   without  foundation;   and   is 

ment  to  the  bishopric.      I  find  no  at  variance  with  the  Archbishop's 

intimation  of  the  kind  in  Fox,  Hey-  uniform  and  wonderful  gentleness, 

lin,   Fuller,  Burnet,  or  any  other  as  attested  by  all  other  writers. 


52  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  III. 

gentle  Cranmer  had  nothing  to  do  with  his  impris 
onment,  except  in  reporting  the  truth  to  the  Council, 
—  which  he  was  required  to  do.  Hooper  lay  in  the 
Fleet  about  two  months ;  and  it  did  him  no  good 
at  all.1 

It  was  a  cloud  of  thick  darkness  all  around  him 
now,  —  of  darkness  which  could  be  felt.  And 
beyond  his  prison-bars,  out  in  the  deep,  deep  gloom, 
were  heard  counsellings  and  devisings  to  end  the 
controversy  by  tragedy.  "  An  obstinate,  disobedient 
churl !  an  he  repent  not,  contrive  process  of  law  to 
give  him  the  gallows  or  the  stake ! "  Such,  the 
Duke  of  Suffolk  sent  him  word,  were  the  secret 
purposes  against  his  life.  He  knew  it  from  other 
sources  also.2 

At  last,  after  his  steady  refusal  for  nine  months, 
a  compromise  was  offered,  to  which  he  assented 
"for  the  public  profit  of  the  Church."3  He  would 
receive  consecration  in  the  usual  form ;  and  appear 
once  at  least  in  public  attired  after  the  manner  of 
the  other  bishops.4  He  was  accordingly  consecrated 


1  Strype's    Cranmer,    214  -  216.  told  me  the   Duke   of  Suffolk  sent 
Carte,  III.  253.     Burnet,  III.  305.  such  word  to  Hooper,  who  was  not 
Neal,  I.  52.    P.  S.  Memoir,  xiv.,  xv.  himself  ignorant  of  what  they  were 

2  The  statement  in  the  text  is  on  doing." 

the  authority  of  the  following  pas-  Why  was  this  passage  suppressed 

sage  in  Pierce's  Vindication  of  the  in   the   English   editions    of   Fox  ? 

Dissenters,    p.    30.      "  Thus,"   says  Why  is  it  so  studiously  unnoticed  by 

Fox,  in  his  Latin  Book  of  Martyrs,  ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  Church 

but  omitted  in  the  English  editions,  of  England  ? 

—  "  thus  ended  this  theological  quar-  3  Fuller's  Abel  Redivivus,  1 73. 

rel  in  the  victory  of  the  bishops.  4  Pierce,    30  ;    from    the    Latin 

Which  unless  he  had  done,  edition  of  Fox.  —  Here  is  another 

there    are    those    who    think    the  variation  between  Fox  in  English, 

bishops  would  have  endeavored  to  and  Fox  in  Latin.     In  the  English, 

take  away  his  life :  for  his  servant  the  language  is  :    "  He   consented 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  53 

on  the  8th  of  March,1  in  a  long  scarlet  chimere, 
or  loose  robe,  down  to  the  foot,  a  white  linen  rochet 
that  covered  all  his  shoulders,  and  a  "  mathematical 
cap  with  four  angles,  dividing  the  whole  world  into 
four  parts,"  — "but  he  took  it  patiently."2  "After 
wards  when  he  preached  at  Court,  he  did  once  for 
formality  sake  appear  in  a  shymar  with  a  white 
linen  rochet  under  it."3 

Such  was  the  first  clash  of  arms  in  the  Eeformed 
Church  of  England.  Such  were  the  opinions  and 
spirit  of  two  parties,  each  of  whom,  though  at  truce 
for  a  while,  never  abated  their  difference,  generation 
after  generation.  The  one  —  afterwards  called  the 
Court  Reformers  —  grew  up  under  the  shadow  of 
the  throne.  The  other  —  afterwards  called  Puri 
tans,  because  they  sought  a  purer  worship  and 
discipline  in  the  Church  —  grew  to  an  independent 
and  mighty  manhood  under  the  scourgings  of  a  mis 
tress  and  masters  who  meant  not  to  educate,  but  to 
rule. 

Although  this  skirmish  was  brief,  and  was  not 
renewed  in  Hooper's  day,  and  although  "  most  of  the 
Eeforming  clergy  were  with  him,  —  Latimer,  John 
Rogers,  Coverdale,  and  others"4  —  yet,  as  he  was 
the  first  of  them  to  spurn  the  livery  of  Rome  and 
to  imperil  himself  for  purity  of  worship,  he  may 

sometimes  in  his  sermon  to  show  difficult  to  perceive  any  compromise 

himself  apparelled  as  the  other  bish-  at  all. 

ops  were."  — Fox,   III.    147.     The        1  Strype's  Cranmer,  216,  254. 
terms    of    the     "  compromise "    as        2  Fox,  IE.  146.     Neal,  I.  53. 
stated  in  Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.         3  Wood's  Athena?  Oxon.,  I.  223. 
Sec.   8,  in  Burnet,  II.  264,  and  in        *  Pierce,  32,  33.     Neal,  I.  53. 
Neal,    I.   52,   are  such  that  it    is 


54  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  [Cn.  HI. 

rightly  be  called  the  Father  of  Puritanism,  —  a  title 
rarely  equalled  for  honor  and  greatness,  notwith 
standing  the  foibles  or  the  misdeeds  of  some  who 
have  borne  the  name. 

Hooper  immediately  applied  himself  with  zeal 
and  diligence  to  the  duties  of  his  diocese,  to  which, 
about  a  year1  after,  was  added  that  of  "Worcester. 
"No  father  in  his  household,  no  gardener  in  his 
garden,  nor  husbandman  in  his  vineyard,  was  more 
or  better  occupied  than  he  in  his  diocese  amongst 
his  flock,  going  about  his  towns  and  villages  in 
teaching  and  preaching  to  the  people  there,  hearing 
public  causes,  or  else  in  private  study,  prayer,  and 
visiting  of  schools.  As  he  was  hated  of  none  but 
of  them  which  were  evil,  so  yet  the  worst  of  them 
all  could  not  reprove  his  life  in  any  one  jot." 2  In 
a  letter  to  Bullinger,  dated  April  3d,  1551,  his  wife 
said :  "  I  entreat  you  to  recommend  Master  Hooper 
to  be  more  moderate  in  his  labor;  for  he  preaches 
four,  or  at  least  three,  times  every  day;  and  I  am 
afraid  lest  these  over-abundant  exertions  should 
cause  a  premature  decay."3 

But  "neither  could  his  labor  and  painstaking 
break  him,  neither  promotion  change  him,  neither 
dainty  fare  corrupt  him.  His  life  was  so  pure  and 
good,  (although  divers  went  about  to  reprove  it,) 
that  no  kind  of  slander  could  fasten  any  fault  upon 
him.  He  was  constant  of  judgment,  a  good  justicer, 
spare  of  diet,  sparer  of  words,  and  sparest  of  time."4 
"Although  he  bestowed  the  most  of  his  care  upon 

1  P.  S.  Memoir,  xvii.  *  Fox,  HI.  146. 

2  Fox,  III.  148. 

3  Burnet,   III.    307,  315.     P.   S.  Memoir,  xvii. 


CH.  III.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN.  55 

the  public  flock  and  congregation  of  Christ,  there 
lacked  no  provision  to  bring  up  his  own  children 
in  learning  and  good  manners.  In  family  and  bish 
opric,  he  kept  one  religion  in  one  uniform  doctrine 
and  integrity.  If  you  entered  his  bishop's  palace, 
you  would  suppose  yourself  to  have  entered  some 
church  or  temple.  In  every  corner  thereof  there 
was  some  smell  of  virtue,  good  example,  honest 
conversation,  and  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
There  was  not  to  be  seen  in  his  house  any  courtly 
rioting  or  idleness;  no  pomp  at  all;  no  dishonest 
word,  no  swearing,  could  there  be  heard.  His 
revenues  did  not  greatly  exceed ;  but  he  pursed 
nothing,  but  bestowed  it  in  hospitality.  Twice," 
continues  Fox,  "twice,  I  was,  I  remember,  in  his 
house  in  Worcester,  where  in  his  common  hall  I 
saw  a  table  spread  with  good  store  of  meat  and 
beset  full  of  beggars  and  poor  folk;  and  I  asking 
his  servants  what  this  meant,  they  told  me  that 
every  day  their  lord  and  master's  manner  was,  to 
have  customably  to  dinner  a  certain  number  of  poor 
folk  of  the  said  city  by  course,  who  were  served  up 
by  four  at  a  mess,  with  whole  and  wholesome  meats ; 
and  when  they  were  served,  (being  afore  examined, 
by  him  or  his  deputies,  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  the 
articles  of  their  faith,  and  the  ten  commandments,) 
then  he  himself  sat  down  to  dinner,  and  not  before."1 
Such  was  the  pioneer  of  the  English  Puritans. 

1  Fox,  HI.  148. 


CHAPTEK    IV. 

THE  MARIAN  EXILES. 

THE  HANSE  TOWNS.  —  EXILES  ARRIVE  AT  FRANKFORT.  —  THEIR  KIND  RECEP 
TION. —  CHARACTER  AND  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  VI.  —  FURTHER  REFORM  DUR 
ING  HIS  REIGN.  —  VALERAN  POLAN  AND  WHITTINGHAM.  —  ESCAPE  OF  THE 
PARTY  FROM  ENGLAND.  —  VALERAN  OFFERS  HIS  SERVICES.  —  A  PLACE  OF 
WORSHIP  SECURED  TO  THE  STRANGERS.  —  THE  LUTHERANS  ABHOR  THE 
ENGLISH.  —  CALVINISTS  WELCOME  THEM.  —  CONTRIBUTIONS  FOR  THE  EXILES. 
—  THEY  WRITE  TO  THEIR  FELLOW-EXILES.  —  JOHN  KNOX.  —  LOWERING 
CLOUDS.  —  DEPUTATION  FROM  STRASBURG.  —  GRINDAL  AND  KNOX  DISCUSS 
KING  EDWARD'S  BOOK. 

1554. 

THE  celebrated  Hanseatic  League  originated  with 
Lubec  and  Hamburg,  about  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century.  It  soon  embraced  many  other  cities  in 
Europe,  all  situated  upon  navigable  waters,  and 
comprised  in  the  general  name  of  "  The  Hanse 
Towns,"  or  K  Easterlings."  They  were  associated, 
under  laws  enacted  by  themselves  in  general  rep 
resentative  assemblies,  for  commercial  purposes  and 
for  mutual  defence  against  the  pirates  who  then 
infested  the  Northern  seas.  They  secured  for  them 
selves  many  valuable  privileges  in  different  coun 
tries;  contended  vigorously  for  the  liberties  and 
rights  essential  to  prosperous  commerce ;  sustained 
successful  wars  against  several  monarchs,  or  formed 
alliances  with  them;  and  became  the  most  pow 
erful  confederacy  of  the  kind  known  in  history. 
This  League,  which  was  not  dissolved  until  1630, 


CH.  IV.j  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  57 

was  at  about  the  height  of  its  greatness  at  the  time 
of  which  we  write.1  Frankfort  on  the  Maine  was 
then  one  of  the  Hanse  Towns,  a  busy  mart,  and  its 
river  a  thoroughfare. 

On  the  27th  of  June,  1554,2  from  one  of  the 
merchankcraft  which  had  just  arrived  at  Frankfort, 
there  came  on  shore  a  company  whose  personal 
appearance  marked  them  as  foreigners  and  wander 
ers.  They  looked  at  the  various  objects  around 
them  with  that  diffident  interest  peculiar  to  persons 
in  a  strange  country,  and  had  the  look  of  mild 
dejection  which  belongs  to  the  homeless  but  unre- 
pining.  They  soon  found  their  way,  with  their 
scanty  effects,  to  a  neighboring  hostelry.  The  court 
yard  and  public  room  were  filled  with  men,  mules, 
merchandise,  and  wassail;  but  the  strangers  were 
welcomed  with  true  German  hospitality  to  retired 
and  comfortable  apartments. 

"  Poor  or  not  poor,"  said  the  host  to  one  of  them 
by  whom  he  was  engaged  in  private  conversation,  — 
"poor  or  not  poor,  I  will  have  my  pay  to  the  last 
mite,  sir.  But  I  will  get  it  from  the  Master,  sir.  It 
will  be  enough  if  he  say  unto  me  in  that  day,  '  Fritz ! 
when  you  did  it  unto  the  least  of  my  brethren,  you 
did  it  unto  me/  Do  you  think  I  will  risk  his  saying, 
6 1  was  hungry,  and  you  gave  me  no  meat ;  I  was 
thirsty,  and  you  gave  me  no  drink  ;  I  was  a  stranger, 
and  you  took  me  not  in '  ?  Besides,  sir,  have  not  the 
English  given  shelter  and  food  and  raiment  to  the 

1  Hume,  II.  500  ;  III.    Appendix     Note  30,  p.  556.      Gazetteer,  word 
HI.     Robertson's  Charles  V.  (New     Hanse. 
York  edit.  1829),  Sec.  I.  p.  41,  and        2  "  Discours,"  p.  5. 

VOL.    I.  8 


58  THE   MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

poor  German  Protestants  whom  the  Emperor  forced 
to  flee  ?  and  shall  we  Germans  take  money  from 
the  English  for  the  same  ? l  God  forbid !  Not  a 
stiver,  sir ;  not  a  stiver.  Ye  are  all  welcome  to 
what  ye  can  find  under  Fritz  Hansen's  roof,  until 
ye  can  find  one  more  to  your  mind." 

u  But,  mine  host,"  replied  the  stranger,  "  we  are 
not  destitute.  I  only  spake  of  our  poverty,  that 
you  might  understand  —  " 

"  Not  one  word  about  it,"  interrupted  the  German ; 
"  not  one  word.  Thank  God !  ye  are  not  yet  des 
titute.  But  if  ye  had  all  India  in  your  purses,  sir,  it 
were  all  the  same  to  Fritz  Hansen.  Are  ye  not  sheep 
fleeing  from  the  wolf?  They  are  all  wolves  that  be 
long  to  Rome,  sir.  They  come  by  it  naturally,  too ; 
for  the  man  that  begun  Rome  was  suckled  by  a  wolf." 

The  stranger  had  the  appearance  of  a  gentleman, 
and  a  man  of  letters,  and  was  the  more  interesting 
to  his  new  acquaintance  for  the  manliness  and 
good  heart  with  which  he  carried  himself  under 
circumstances  so  depressing.  He  smiled  at  Fritz's 
philosophy  about  the  Papal  appetite  for  blood ;  which 
emboldened  the  garrulous  old  man  to  say,  "As  I  do 
not  often  find  one  of  your  countrymen  who  speaks 
our  tongue,  pray  tell  me,  sir,  about  affairs  in  England. 
You  speak  German  very  well." 

"  I  learned  it  four  years  ago,  when  I  travelled  in 
France  and  Germany.  I  returned  home  only  about 
a  year  since,  just  before  King  Edward's  death."2 

"  He  was  a  hearty  Protestant,  sir." 

"  Indeed  he  was ;  a  youth  of  so  godly  a  disposition 

1  McCrie,  98.  Historical  and    Genealogical  Reg- 

2  Neal,  I.  145.       New  England    ister,  V.  150. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  59 

toward  virtue  and  the  truth  of  God,  that  none 
passed  him,  and  none  of  his  years  did  ever  match 
him." l 

"  Ay,  ay,  sir ;  for  it  was  a  fresh  young  heart, 
and  no  one  had  bruised  it.  But  methinks  the  fame 
of  his  gemus  must  have  been  like  a  rolling  ball  of 
snow.  Pray,  sir,  dost  know  the  truth?" 

"  Eumor  could  hardly  lie  about  him,  mine  host. 
Nature  gave  him  a  large  brain,  and  he  did  not  use 
it  daintily.  He  did  love  play  as  well  as  any  youth, 
before  the  cares  of  the  kingdom  fell  upon  him ; 
but  he  did  love  study  as  well.  For  knowledge  of 
tongues,  he  did  seem  rather  born  than  brought  up. 
He  was  skilled,  too,  in  music,  and  in  philosophy,  and 
in  affairs  of  state.  He  could  tell  all  the  havens, 
not  only  in  his  own  realm,  but  in  Scotland,  and  like 
wise  in  France,  and  knew  the  channels  and  sound 
ings  of  each  one,  and  how  served  the  tide  and  the 
wind  for  entrance.  He  could  talk  understandingly 
about  the  coining  of  money,  about  exchange,  and 
commerce,  and  fortifications,  and  foreign  affairs,  with 
any  of  his  chiefest  men,  or  with  the  ambassadors  at 
his  Court.  He  always  took  notes  of  the  doings  of 
his  Council,  and  of  the  sermons  of  his  preachers. 
Withal,  he  had  so  great  a  respect  for  justice,  and 
especially  for  poor  men's  suits,  that  he  would  have 
fixed  times  and  order  with  Doctor  Cox,  his  Master 
of  Requests,  that  they  might  be  sped  in  their  causes ; 
and  he  took  great  pains  himself  that  they  might  be 
judged  with  equity."2 

1  McCrie,  79,  note.  Burnet,  III.  298.     Shype's  Memo- 

3  Fox,  n.  652-654.     Rapin,  II.     rials,  III.  426,  523,  IV.  49,  126. 
25,    note.     Carte,    IK    279,    280. 


60  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

"  Some  such  things/'  said  Fritz,  "  I  have  heard, 
but  doubted.  Truly,  sir,  he  was  a  wondrous  youth. 
Most,  that  he  did  care  for  the  poor,  which  few 
princes  do.  In  that,  of  a  surety,  he  did  lay  up 
treasure  in  heaven ;  for  the  Book  saith,  f  Blessed 
is  he  that  considereth  the  poor/" 

"He  considered  them  to  his  dying  day.  He  set 
on  foot  several  foundations  to  relieve  those  of 
London ;  and  when  he  subscribed  his  private  gift 
of  four  thousand  marks  a  year  for  one  of  them,  he 
dropped  his  pen,  lifted  his  pale  face  toward  heaven, 
and  said,  in  the  presence  of  his  Council,  '  Lord !  I 
give  thee  thanks  that  thou  hast  given  me  life  thus 
long  to  finish  this  work  to  the  glory  of  thy  name  ! ' 
Two  days  afterwards,  he  went  to  heaven.1  In  truth 
he  was  a  miracle  of  a  youth  for  capacity,  for  good 
ness,  for  beauty  of  person,  for  sweetness  of  disposi 
tion,  and  for  lustre  of  aspect,"2 

((  So  young,  and  so  eager  to  do  good,  —  was  he 
not  loth  to  die,  sir?" 

"  Nay,  my  friend.  A  right  heart  always  has  its 
own  way;  for  it  wraps  up  all  its  child-wishes,  as 
Christ  did  his,  with  '  Tlvj  will  be  done.'  The  day 
on  which  our  good  prince  died,  he  whispered  words 
which  showed  that  he  was  not  loth." 

"What  words,  good  sir?" 

"  As  nearly  as  I  can  remember  what  was  told  me? 
they  were  these :  '  Lord  God !  deliver  me  out  of 
this  miserable  and  wretched  life,  and  take  me  among 

1  Stow's  Survey  of  London,  592-  contemptuously,  as  "a  weak-minded 
597.     Burnet,  II.  352.  boy."     The  same  writer  calls  Queen 

2  Once  only,  among  all  the  vol-  Elizabeth  "an  old  flirt."    (Taylor, 
umes   which    I   have    examined,   I  I.  48,  94.) 

have  found  Edward  VI.  spoken  of 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  61 

thy  chosen.  Howbeit,  not  my  will,  but  thy  will, 
be  done.  Lord !  I  commit  my  spirit  to  thee  !  0 
Lord !  thou  knowest  how  happy  it  were  for  me  to 
be  with  thee ;  yet  for  thy  chosen  sake  send  me  life 
and  health,  that  I  may  truly  serve  thee.  0  my 
Lord  God!  bless  thy  people  and  save  thine  inherit 
ance.  0  Lord !  save  thy  chosen  people  of  England. 
0  my  Lord  God !  defend  this  realm  from  Papistry, 
and  maintain  thy  true  religion,  that  I  and  my 
people  may  praise  thy  holy  name,  for  thy  Son  Je 
sus  Christ's  sake.'  Three  hours  after,  he  exclaimed, 
f I  am  faint !  Lord  !  have  mercy  upon  me,  and  take 
my  spirit ! '  And  thus  he  yielded  up  the  ghost,  leav 
ing  a  woful  kingdom  to  his  sister."1 

"  Yes,  sir,  a  kingdom  full  of  woe,  with  such  a  sister. 
But  it  was  a  happy  death.  Pray,  sir,  had  he  swept 
your  Church  clean  of  Popery  ? " 

"No.  But  he  did  all  that  he  could,  though  not 
all  that  he  intended.  He  meant  to  have  had  religion 
in  England  like  the  religion  of  the  French  or  the 
Swiss  Protestants,  had  his  life  been  spared."  2 

"  And  now  all  that  he  did  is  undone ! "  exclaimed 
the  publican.  "  Instead  of  a  good  young  king,  you 
have  a  bloody-minded  Papist  queen!" 

"It  is  too  true,"  replied  the  Englishman,  mourn 
fully.  "  All  Protestants  are  fortunate  who  can  es 
cape  from  her.  My  company  and  myself  have  come 
to  save  our  lives,  and  to  worship  God  in  peace.  We 
hope  to  earn  our  living,  and  to  have  permission  to 
worship  in  Frankfort." 

"Just  thirty  years  ago,  Frankfort  embraced  the 
Reformed  religion,"  replied  Fritz  ;  "  and  by  authority 

1  Fox,  II.  787.     Burnet,  II.  356.  2  See  note,  ante,  p.  49. 


62  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [CH.  IV. 

of  her  magistrates  abolished  the  Mass  and  other  su 
perstitions  of  Popery ; l  and  never  yet  has  she  refused 
home  and  kindness  to  persecuted  Protestants." 

"  Ha ! "  exclaimed  the  other,  musing :  "just  thirty 
years !  Frankfort  was  born  into  the  Keformation 
in  the  very  year  that  I  was  born  into  the  world.2 
I  will  claim  refuge  of  her,  then,  as  my  twin  in  some 
sort.  Are  there  any  English  Protestants  here  now  ?  " 

"I  think  not,  sir.  There  are  French  Protestants, 
and  they  have  a  church." 

"  And  ministers  ?  " 

"  Three  or  four,  sir ;  and  one  of  them  is  an  Eng 
lishman.  No,  —  I  mistake.  He  has  lived  in  England, 
but  he  is  a  Fleming  born." 

"  Thank  God  !  "  exclaimed  the  other ;  "  surely  he 
will  befriend  us !  His  name,  good  Fritz  ?  " 

"  Befriend  ye  !  Why,  sir,  the  man  knows  what  it 
is  to  be  an  exile  ;  and  as  for  brotherly  kindness,  sir, 
he  hath  been  to  two  of  the  best  schools  to  learn  it,  — 
the  school  of  Christ  and  the  school  of  England ;  and 
he  knows  all  about  it,  sir.  Valeran  Polan . —  that  is 
his  name,  sir  —  learned  his  lessons  well." 

After  a  little  silence  and  a  little  murmuring  to 
himself  in  English,  the  stranger  said:  "I  certainly 
have  heard  the  name  in  England,  but  further  my 
memory  faileth  me.  Just  as  I  was  leaving  for  my 
travels,  four  years  ago,  there  were  foreign  Protestants 
there  petitioning  the  king  for  privileges  of  domicile, 
religion,  and  handicraft,  which  he  granted.  As  soon 
as  Queen  Mary  was  acknowledged,  they  were  all 
ordered  to  leave  the  kingdom.3  I  think  he  must 

1  Robertson's  Charles  V.,  183.  3  Fox,  III.  40.     Strype's   Cran- 

8  Neal,  I.  145.  mer.    Neal. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  63 

have  been  one  of  their  ministers.  I  must  see  this 
Master  Valeran,  mine  host.  But  the  day  waneth, 
and  we  are  all  weary.  So  I  will  rest  the  night; 
and  in  the  morning,  wilt  help  me  find  him?" 

"  With  all  my  heart ;  with  all  my  heart.  And 
now  go  to  your  friends  and  be  happy.  I  must  put 
the  women  to  work  and  the  turnspit,  —  the  lazy 
loons !  We  must  all  eat,  sir ;  and  in  this  country, 
it  is  very  needful." 

The  warm-hearted  old  man  bustled  away,  to  make 
preparations  for  the  refreshment  of  his  guests;  and 
the  stranger  went  to  cheer  his  companions  with  his 
good  tidings. 

While  yet  the  controversy  with  Hooper  was  in 
progress,  the  Privy  Council,  true  to  the  gradually 
progressive  policy1  of  the  king  and  Cranmer,  had 
made  one  important  change.  The  dogma  of  a  fresh 
propitiatory  sacrifice  of  the  real  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  in  each  solemnization  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  implied  and  sustained  by  the  presence  of  altars, 
from  which  the  sacrament  was  served;  for  the 
reception  and  completion  of  a  sacrifice  is  the  dis 
tinctive  purpose  of  an  altar.  This  the  English  Ke- 
formers  had  perceived;  and  therefore,  to  wean  the 
people  from  the  notion  of  the  corporal  presence,  and 
to  turn  them  to  the  right  use  of  the  ordinance,  it 
had  been  ordered  that  the  altars  in  the  churches 
should  be  removed,  and  that  tables  should  be  used 
in  their  stead.  Other  innovations  had  followed. 
The  Liturgy  had  been  again  revised,  and  so  improved 
as  to  disavow  the  bodily  presence  in  the  sacrament, 

1  Burnet,  H  97. 


64  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

and  also  any  adoration  of  it  in  the  act  of  kneeling 
when  it  was  administered.  It  also  omitted  the  doc 
trine  of  Purgatory,  which  in  the  first  Liturgy  had 
been  implied  by  prayers  for  departed  souls;  and  it 
forbade  the  use  of  all  copes  and  massing-vestments 
by  the  clergy.  In  the  first  and  last  of  these  changes 
the  influence  of  Hooper's  reasonings  is  apparent. 
Sundry  other  rites  and  ceremonies  had  been  dropped ; 
and  a  Confession  of  Faith,  in  forty-two  articles, — 
since  reduced  to  thirty-nine,  —  had  been  framed,  and 
had  received  the  royal  sanction.  The  bishoprics, 
too,  had  been  generally  filled  with  those  friendly  to 
the  Reformation.1 

To  these  innovations  a  great  part  of  the  nobility,2 
and  many  of  the  chief  gentry  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  were  opposed,  being  Romanists  in  heart.  The 
ordinary  clergy  generally,  and  some  of  the  bishops, 
were  averse  to  most  of  them.  But  a  regard  to  their 
private  estates  —  which  would  have  been  confiscated 
by  opposition  —  prevailed  with  the  disaffected  no 
bility  and  gentry ;  and  the  punishment  of  Gardiner, 
the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  induced  the  clergy  to 
compliance.3 

The  Reformers,  to  use  their  own  words,  "had 
gone  as  far  as  they  could  in  reforming  the  Church, 
considering  the  times  they  lived  in."  Both  Cran- 
mer  and  the  king  wished,  and  intended,  a  further 
reformation,  —  a  stih1  nearer  approach  to  apostolical 

1  Fox,  II.  699,  700.     Stow,  604,  Burnet,  IE.  121,  252,  253,  264,  271. 

608.     Heylin's  Ref.,  95,  107,    108,  Neal,  I.  54.     HaUam,  59-62. 

121.    Heylin's Presb.,Bk.  VI.  Sec.  5.  2  Strype's  Memorials,  IV.  69. 

Collier,  V.  420.     Strype's  Cranmer,  3  Heylin's   Ref.,  48.     Rapin,  H. 

272;  Memorials,  IV.  21,24.    Rapin,  11,21.     Burnet,  H.  112.     Hallam, 

II.  21.      Carte,  IH.  255,  268,  269.  62. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  65 

simplicity  in  worship,  —  should  circumstances  permit. 
They  did  not  live  to  perfect  their  plan ;  but  had,  to 
the  last,  avoided  all  abrupt  and  unnecessary  violence 
to  old  prejudices,  still  seeking  "  to  prepare  the  people 
by  little  and  little,  that  they  might  with  more  ease 
and  less  opposition  admit  the  total  alteration  in  the 
face  of  the  Church  which  was  intended."1 

Edward  had  deceased  at  Greenwich  on  the  6th 
of  July,  1553 ; 2  and  Queen  Mary  had  no  sooner 
made  her  triumphal  entrance  to  the  Tower  of  Lon 
don,  in  August,  than  she  gave  signs  of  severity 
towards  those  of  the  Reformed  religion.  In  a  few 
weeks,  she  had  ordered  the  prompt  departure  of  all 
foreign  Protestants,  and  had  given  such  other  in 
dications  of  her  bloody  policy,  that  hundreds  of 
English  —  clergymen,  noblemen,  tradesmen,  and 
common  people  —  hastened  to  escape  for  their  lives. 
The  exiles  had  taken  refuge  in  Strasburg,  Zurich, 
Embden,  and  other  places  where  the  Reformed 
religion  was  established;  but  the  company  whom 
we  have  introduced  were  the  first  English-born  who 
had  taken  shelter  in  Frankfort.3 


1  Heylin'sRef.,  34,57.   Carte,  HI.  but   fall  back    entirely    upon    the 
221.     Burnet,  II.  97.     Neal,  I.  55,  same  original  authority,  —  the  only 
56.     Hume,  II.  463.  one  which  is  full  and  reliable,  mi- 

2  Cecil's  Journal ;  Murdin,  745.  nute,  documentary,  and  dispassion- 

3  The  sketches  of  the  disturban-  ate.     From  it  I  derive  all  the  par- 
ces  at  Frankfort,  which  are  given  ticulars  of  those  "  Troubles,"  which 
by    Strype,    Collier,    Pierce,    and  I  have  given  in  these  two  chapters ; 
others,  are  all  derived  from  a  book  making   references   only   to  points 
commonly    referred   to   under    the  not    readily    discoverable    in    the 
title  of  "  The  Troubles  at  Frank-  "  Discours "  itself.     Its  true  title  is 
fort."      Therefore,  in  my  own  ac-  "  A  Brieff  Discours  off  the  troubles 
count,  in  this  chapter  and  the  next,  begonne  at  Franckford  in  Germany 
I  make  no  citations  of  the  writers  Anno   Domini    1554.     Abowte   the 
mentioned,  except  in  a  few  cases ;  Booke  off  common  prayer  and  Cere- 

VOL.   I.  9 


66  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

Fritz  Hansen  was  evidently  trying  hard,  not  only 
to  minister  to  the  necessities  of  his  guests,  but  to 
make  them  feel  that  they  had  found  a  home.  He 
and  his  good  wife  made  as  much  commotion  in 
kitchen  and  lodging-rooms,  were  as  loud  and  impor 
tant  towards  their  servants,  as  though  they  had 
been  entertaining  the  family  and  retinue  of  a  prince. 
It  was  not  enough  that  the  strangers  were  pressed 
with  a  bountiful  meal;  Fritz  insisted  that  they 
should  join  his  family  circle ;  and  leaving  them 
there  to  while  away  the  twilight  of  a  mild  summer 
evening  by  telling  about  their  country,  and  enjoying 
the  sympathy  and  wonder  of  their  hostess  and  her 
gossips,  he  went  away,  he  said,  to  the  duties  of  his 
calling.  But  the  evening  had  not  far  advanced1 
when  he  broke  in  upon  their  quiet  talk  with  a 
companion  who  wore  a  plain,  scholar-like  habit ;  and 
turning  his  bright  face  to  the  guest  with  whom  he 
had  before  conversed,  and  rubbing  his  hands  with  an 
air  of  intense  glee,  he  said  abruptly,  "  My  good  sir, 
I  have  found  you  Master  Valeran  Polan ;  and,  Master 
Yaleran,  this  is  —  is  —  this  is  Master  —  " 

"  Whittingham,"  said  the  Englishman,  extending 
his  hand  eagerly  to  the  clergyman. 

monies,"    &c.,    &c.      It    was    first  England  Historical  and  Genealogi- 

printed  in  1575  ;  reprinted  in  1642 ;  cal  Register,  V.  314,  it  is  positively 

again,  in  the  Phoenix,  in  1707-8;  ascribed  to  him,  but  without  rea- 

and  yet  again,  and  from  the  origi-  sons  given.     McCrie's  reasoning  is 

nal  black-letter  edition  of  1575,  by  plausible  ;  perhaps  satisfactory. 

John   Petheram,   London,    1846,  a  As    a    part  of   Puritan  history, 

copy  of  which  edition  is  before  me.  the  "  Discours  "   is  of  great  value ; 

In  the  Introduction  to  it  is  quoted  but  its  value  would  be  essentially 

an  argument  by  Professor  McCrie  increased  by  cxegetical  and  histor- 

of  Edinburgh,  to  show  that  the  writ-  ical  notes  by  some  competent  and 

er  of  the  "  Discours  "  was  probably  painstaking  editor. 

Whittingham  himself.     In  the  New  l  Discours,  p.  5. 


CH.  IV.J  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  67 

"  This  is  very,  very  kind/'  continued  Whittingham. 
"  Master  Valeran,  I  thank  you ;  we  all  thank  you." 

"Master  Whittingham  is  welcome,  —  welcome, — 
welcome,"  said  the  minister  in  English,  and  with  a 
hearty  grasp  of  the  hand  and  a  face  beaming  with 
benevolence.  "The  good  Lord  hath  been  kind  in 
sending  you  to  my  friend  Fritz." 

Master  Valeran  Polan  looked  inquiringly  at  the 
new  faces  before  him,  which  Master  William  Whitting 
ham  interpreting,  he  introduced  him  to  his  friends, 
—  Master  Edmond  Sutton,  Master  William  Williams, 
Master  Thomas  Wood,  and  "  their  companies,"  as  the 
chronicler  phrases  it.1  Although  personally  un 
known  to  them,  his  name,  as  a  worthy  pastor  of 
one  of  the  refugee  churches,  was  familiar  to  all  but 
Whittingham,  whose  travels  had  almost  exactly 
coincided  with  Yaleran's  residence  in  England.  To 
avoid  persecution  under  Charles  V.  in  Strasburg, 
he  had  taken  refuge  in  Glastenbury,  in  Somerset 
shire,  in  1550;2  and  to  avoid  the  like  under  Mary, 
he  had  taken  second  refuge  in  Frankfort,  in  the 
autumn  of  1553.  In  each  instance,  like  a  good 
shepherd,  he  had  taken  his  flock  with  him.3  Great 
was  the  joy  of  the  new-comers  to  meet,  in  a  strange 
city,  one  who  spake  their  own  language,  and  whom 
they  could  trust  for  counsel  and  friendly  service. 

After  congratulating  them  with  true  heartiness 
upon  their  safe  arrival,  Master  Valeran  inquired, 
"  How  did  you  get  from  England  ?  You  could  not 
come  by  passport  of  French  people  or  of  German 
people  under  color  of  being  their  servants ;  for  the 

1  Discours,  p.  5.  3  McCrie,  98,  note. 

2  Ante,  pp.  48,  49,  note. 


68  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

French  and  the  Germans  did  all  come  last  year. 
Why  do  you  laugh?"  he  added,  seeing  smiles  and 
significant  looks  around  the  circle.  "Do  I  speak 
bad  English?" 

"No,  no,  good  sir/'  answered  Master  Sutton. 
"We  were  laughing  at  Master  Whittingham.  He 
got  us  out  of  England.  We  were  thinking  how 
he  did  it." 

66  Did  he  do  it  laughably  ?  " 

"It  was  in  this  way,"  answered  Master  Sutton. 
"  While  we  were  stopping  at  Dover,  our  host  would 
fain  have  us  before  the  Mayor,  to  say  who  we  were, 
and  why  we  would  cross  the  sea.  This  put  us  in 
great  trouble,  for  doubtless  it  would  have  ended 
in  our  going  to  prison.  Therefore  we  tried  much 
to  be  rid  of  it.  Whereupon  the  man  insisted,  and 
became  angered.  Master  Whittingham,  being  will 
ing  to  talk  about  anything  else,  pointeth  him  to  a 
noble  dog  which  lay  there,  and  saith,  'Mine  host, 
you  have  here  a  very  fair  greyhound.'  'Ay,  ay/ 
saith  he,  'a  very  fair  greyhound  indeed.  He  be 
of  the  queen's  kind.'  Whereat  Master  Whittingham 
did  look  very  stern  and  fierce,  and  saith,  'Go  to, 
sirrah !  Do  you  dare  to  speak  foul  words  of  her 
Majesty ! '  At  which  our  host,  much  amazed,  said 
he  had  spoken  no  foul  words.  'Marry!  but  you 
did,'  saith  our  friend, '  and  you  shall  answer  for  it. 
At  a  pretty  pass  be  things  in  Dover,  an  a  paltry 
inn-keeper  may  speak  treason  against  our  gracious 
queen  and  go  unwhipt!'  Whereat  he,  becoming 
exceeding  pale,  exclaimeth, '  Treason !  God  knoweth 
I  speak  no  treason  ! '  '  Nay,  but  you  did ;  and  my 
friends  here  be  witnesses.  In  good  sooth,  my  con- 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  69 

science  biddeth  me  to  your  Mayor  to  report  your 
speech.  I  warrant  me  he  will  sift  your  traitor 
heart.  My  company  shall  keep  you  while  I  do 
mine  errand/  Upon  which  words  the  poor  craven 
trembleth  much,  and  saith  very  humbly,  '  Good  sir, 
pray  tell  — '  '  Nay,  nay/  saith  Master  "Whittingham, 
choking  off  his  words,  '  peace  with  your  traitor 
tongue ! '  '  But  good  sir,  kind  sir,  dear  sir/  saith 
the  other,  for  he  was  growing  very  worshipful, '  tell 
me,  I  pray,  what  treason  ? '  '  What  treason !  what 
treason!  Enow  to  hang  you,  —  to  say  that  our 
sacred  queen  be  of  the  dog  kind !  No  good  subject 
will  hear  such  words  and  hold  his  peace/  Whereat 
our  poor  host  was  in  terrible  fright;  and  Master 
Whittingham  did  scare  him  much  more  withal, 
until  he  was  fain  to  spare  us  the  Mayor,  an  we 
would  spare  him.  And  so  we  settled  our  quar 
rel.  That  is  the  way,  good  sir,  we  got  out  of  Eng 
land."  l 

Master  Yaleran  now  laughed  too ;  and  then  spake 
of  annoyances  which  he  and  his  church  had  en 
countered  upon  leaving  England,  and  also  of  their 
good  home  in  Frankfort.  "My  good  friends,"  he 
then  said,  "  I  have  told  you  of  myself  and  of  my 
people.  Tell  now,  what  Yaleran  Polan  can  do  for 
you." 

"We  have  little  with  us,"  said  Master  Whitting 
ham.  "We  could  not  bring  our  fortunes."  He 
himself,  to  preserve  his  religion  and  conscience,  had 
left  behind  an  estate  of  eleven  hundred  pounds 
sterling  a  year ;  a  great  estate  in  those  times.2  "  We 

1  N.  Eng.  Hist,  and  Gen.  Register,         2  Ibid. ;  and  1  Mass.  Hist.  Soci- 
V.  150.  ety's  Collections,  V.  206. 


70  THE  MAEIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

must  earn  our  daily  bread  and  worship  God.  An 
you  can  help  us  to  these,  you  will  do  us  great 
favor." 

"With  my  biggest  heart  I  shall  try.  What  can 
be  done  first  for  the  daily  bread?  I  see  Master 
Whittingham  is  one  scholar.  The  printers  of  Frank 
fort  will  be  glad  to  give  work  to  you  of  reading 
their  Latin  and  their  Greek.  Then  you  can  say  the 
French  tongue  and  the  German  tongue,  which  will 
be  great  help.  The  Lord  will  provide  for  Master 
Whittingham;  that  is  plain.  And  Master  Williams 
and  Master  Sutton  and  Master  Wood,  and  all,  can 
find  something  to  do  in  the  like  business,  or  some 
other ;  for  sure  all  the  good  people  of  Frankfort  will 
be  proud  to  help  the  English  people  of  the  Lord. 
Shall  they  not  do  kindness  to  them  as  much  as 
the  good  people  do  in  Strasburg  and  other  towns? 
If  the  Lord  please,  they  shall  do  more.  Do  not 
trouble  about  the  daily  bread." 

"We  are  quite  as  anxious,"  said  Master  Whitting 
ham,  "to  secure  the  privilege  of  Christian  wor 
ship." 

"  Sure  !  sure  ! "  responded  Master  Yaleran.  "  I 
have  large  thought  for  the  worship.  Now  you  see, 
my  friend,  this  Frankfort  is  a  free  city.  The  magis 
trates  make  what  laws  and  do  what  things  they 
please ;  only  they  must  not  offend  the  Emperor. 
So  I  did  go  to  Master  John  Glawberge,  —  he  is 
one  of  the  chief  senators,  —  and  I  ask  him  to  let 
such  of  my  people  as  come  with  me  out  of  England 
for  the  Gospel  have  a  place  to  worship  God.  Then 
he  did  move  the  magistrates,  and  they  did  give  me 
a  little  church ;  and  many  who  did  come  from  Glas- 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  71 

tenbury  do  worship  there.1  So  you  see,  you  have 
place  and  permit  ready  for  you,  for  the  preaching 
and  the  praying  and  the  sacraments." 

"But  your  congregation  are  not  English,"  said 
Master  Sutton. 

"There  be  no  English  here  but  you.  They  be 
all  Frenchmen  who  did  live  in  Glastenbury, —  my 
people." 

"Then  your  worship  is  in  the  French  tongue," 
said  Master  Sutton,  despond ingly. 

"  God  be  praised,"  added  Master  Wood,  "  that  he 
hath  moved  the  hearts  of  the  magistrates  to  show 
the  French  such  favor.  But  only  few  of  us  under 
stand  the  language;  and  there  will  be  many  more 
coming  here  anon  from  England  who  also  do  not 
understand  it." 

"It  is  bad!"  said  Master  Yaleran,  sadly;  "it  is 
very  bad.  Why  did  I  not  think  of  that?" 

This  led  to  a  conversation  upon  the  question 
whether  a  like  privilege  might  be  obtained  for  the 
English,  —  a  question  much  embarrassed  by  the  well- 
known  political  and  religious  jealousies  of  the  Em 
peror.2  Master  Valeran  looked  very  grave,  and  shook 
his  head  doubtingly.  In  this  perplexity,  the  com 
pany  parted  with  their  kind  friend,  who  bade  them 
good  night,  saying,  "Why  art  thou  cast  down,  0 
my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquiet  in  me  ?  Hope 
thou  in  God,  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him.  He  is  the 
health  of  my  countenance  and  my  God." 

The  next  day,  —  having  taken  leave  of  their  gen 
erous  host  and  hostess,  for  quiet  quarters  in  the 
house  of  "  one  Adrian,  a  citizen  there,"  —  they  were 

1  Discours,  5.  2  McCrie,  98. 


72  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

visited  again  by  Valeran  Polan,  accompanied  by  Mas 
ter  Morellio  and  Master  Castallio ;  the  first  a  minister, 
and  the  last  an  elder,  in  the  French  church,  "both 
of  them  godly  and  learned  men."  Upon  consultation 
with  these,  it  was  determined  in  the  first  place  to 
petition  the  magistrates  that  an  unmolested  residence 
in  Frankfort  might  be  assured  for  the  English  just 
arrived,  and  for  all  others  of  their  countrymen  who 
might  come  thither  for  the  same  cause.  To  this 
request,  a  favorable  answer  was  returned  on  the  third 
day  after  it  was  presented ;  which  encouraged  the 
exiles  next  to  seek  the  great  object  of  their  wishes. 
This  they  did  forthwith;  and  through  the  aid  of 
Castallio  and  Morellio,  —  "who  during  their  lives 
showed  themselves  fathers  to  all  Englishmen,"  —  and 
of  Master  John  Glawberge,  before  mentioned,  the 
Senate  were  pleased,  on  the  14th  of  July,  to  grant 
them  the  use,  but  at  different  hours,  of  the  same 
building  granted  to  the  French;  with  liberty  there 
to  preach  and  administer  the  sacraments,  and  to 
conduct  the  other  ordinary  religious  exercises  in 
their  own  language.  The  only  condition  of  this 
grant  was,  that  the  English  should  not  differ  from 
the  French  in  doctrine  or  ceremonies,  and  should 
first  subscribe  the  same  confession  of  faith;  or,  at 
least,  should  not  differ  in  either  respect  any  further 
than  should,  by  the  others,  be  freely  allowed  and 
agreed  upon.  This  condition  was  "a  prudent  pre 
caution  dictated  by  the  political  circumstances  of 
the  city," l  and  was  thankfully  complied  with  by  the 
petitioners,  and  by  others  who  had  arrived,  in  the 
mean  time,  direct  from  England.  The  whole  body 

1  McCrie,  98. 


Cn.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  73 

then  agreed  upon  an  order  of  religious  services,  in 
which  they  were  to  follow  chiefly  the  second  service- 
book  of  King  Edward ;  omitting,  however,  the  use 
of  the  surplice,  the  general  supplication  or  litany, 
all  responses  after  the  minister,  and  "  sundry  things 
touching  the  ministration  of  the  sacraments";  all 
which  were  "by  common  consent  omitted  as  super 
stitious  and  superfluous,"  and  because  they  "would 
seem  more  than  strange  in  those  reformed  churches" 
with  whom  their  lot  was  cast.  "It  was  further 
agreed  upon,  that  the  minister,  in  place  of  the  Eng 
lish  confession,  should  use  another,  both  of  more 
effect,  and  also  framed  according  to  the  state  and 
time."  These  changes  from  the  English  forms  were 
made  with  perfect  harmony;  a  brief  form  of  dis 
cipline  was  drawn  up,  a  subscription  to  which  was 
required  of  all  as  a  condition  of  church-membership ; 
a  minister  and  deacons  were  elected  to  serve  the 
congregation  for  the  present ;  and,  on  the  29th  of 
the  month,  they  entered  their  church,  and  to  their 
great  joy  commenced  public  worship,  having  two 
sermons  on  that  day. 

The  desire  of  Edward  VI.,  of  Cranmer,  and  of 
Ridley,  to  attain  to  simpler  and  yet  simpler  forms 
of  worship  and  discipline  1  was  the  desire  of  many 
others ;  and  had  been  cherished  to  the  time  of  the 
king's  death  by  those  who  were  now  refugees  at 
Frankfort.2  This  was  doubtless  one  reason  for  the 
religious  changes  there  made.  But  another,  and  the 
chief  one,  was  imperative.  The  conditions  imposed 
by  the  magistrates  were  reasonable,  and  left  the 


1  Pierce,  44.     Neal,  I.  55,  56. 

2  Heylin's  Ref.,  92 ;  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  5. 
VOL.  i.  10 


74  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

strangers  no  alternative,  unless  they  should  seek 
another  home,  —  a  fact  not  to  be  overlooked  for  a 
moment  in  examining  the  "  Troubles  at  Frankfort." 

The  exiles  had  some  peculiar  reasons  for  rejoicing 
and  thanksgiving  which  deserve  our  notice.  First, 
that  even  in  a  Protestant  country  they  had  found  a 
place  of  refuge.  "  The  enmity,  at  that  day,  between 
Calvinists  and  Lutherans,  was  as  fierce  as  that  be 
tween  Keformers  and  Catholics."1  The  Lutheran 
churches  held  in  abhorrence  all  who  denied  the 
dogma  of  "  the  corporal  presence  "  ;  and  even  avowed, 
that,  rather  than  tolerate  such  heretics,  they  would 
turn  back  again  to  the  Church  of  Rome.2  So  far 
did  they  carry  their  hate,  as  to  deny  the  common 
charities  of  humanity  to  those  who  held,  on  this 
point,  with  Zwingle  and  Calvin,  Peter  Martyr  and 
the  Reformers  of  England.  When,  therefore,  Rogers 
and  Cranmer,  Ridley  and  others,  had  suffered  for 
Christ  at  the  stake,  they  were  but  "  the  Devil's 
martyrs  "  in  the  Lutheran  vocabulary  • 3  and  when 
others  fled  for  life  to  the  Continent,  they  were  driven 
like  dogs,  with  abuse  and  insult,  from  every  port 
and  town  and  hearthstone  where  the  disciples  of 
Luther  prevailed.  Thus  it  was  a  matter  of  pecu 
liar  rejoicing  that  they  found  any  places  of  refuge ; 
that  the  disciples  of  Zwingle  and  Calvin  —  as  at 
Strasburg,  Frankfort,  Embden,  Basil,  Doesburge, 
Zurich,  Arrow,  and  Geneva  —  received  them  with 
more  than  kindness,  and  granted  them  liberty  of 

1  Motley's  Dutch  Republic,  II.  69.     cos  esse  martyres  diaboli."    Melanc- 
8  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  I.  Sec.  1.  thon   apud  Heylin,    250;  Lingard, 

8  "  Vociferantem  martyres  Angli-     VH.  206,  note. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MAKIAN  EXILES.  75 

religious  worship.  Geneva  even  allowed  them  to 
"adopt  the  form  of  worship  which  pleased  them 
best." l 

Again,  the  exiles  were  many;  and  many  were 
poor.  It  was  kind  to  receive  them  in  their  distress 
and  poverty ;  but  it  was  generous,  noble,  —  that 
more  considerate  and  delicate  kindness  of  giving 
them  opportunities  to  minister,  at  least  in  part,  to 
their  own  wants  by  their  own  labors.  While  some 
devoted  themselves  to  study,  others  made  their  time 
available  by  teaching  schools,  by  writing  books,  by 
overseeing  and  correcting  the  press.2  Nor  were  they 
forgotten  by  men  of  heart  and  substance  at  home. 
Money  was  liberally  contributed  and  sent  to  them 
from  London  and  other  towns  in  England ;  until 
Gardiner,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  had  his  spies 
at  every  man's  elbow,  discovered  it,  and  "  swore  so  to 
stop  their  supplies,  that  for  very  hunger  they  should 
eat  their  own  nails,  and  then  feed  on  their  fingers' 
ends."3  He  could  cut  off  supplies  from  England; 
but  not  the  flowing  of  other  fountains.  Where  the 
banished  sojourned,  God  had  people  ;  and  God's 
people  there  had  gold,  and  gave  it.  Princes,  and 
others  of  wealth  and  estate,  sent  benevolences  to 
these  needy  ones;  and  the  senators  of  Zurich,  in 
particular,  opened  their  treasury  for  them.4 

1  Strype's    Cranmer,    353,    354.  2  Strype's    Cranmer,    354.      Ful- 
Collier,  VI.  645,  note ;  from  which  ler,  Bk.  VIII.  p.  36. 
it  appears,  to   his  immortal  honor,  3  Strype's  Memorials,  V.  403. 
that  the  gentle  Melancthon  warmly  4  Strype's  Cranmer,  360 ;    Grin- 
condemned  this  uncharitable  treat-  dal,  89  ;  Annals,  III.    349.     Fuller 
ment  and  these  indecent  reproaches.  Bk.  VIII.  pp.  35,  36.     Grindal  to 
See   also  Mosheim,  IV.  376,  note.  Cecil,    Jan.    1563-4,    in  Wright's 
Neal,  I.  66.    Hallam,105.    McCrie,  Elizabeth,  I.  163. 
98,  note.  Hist,  and  Gen.  Reg.,V.  311. 


76  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [On.  IV. 

For  their  religious  immunities,  the  English  refu 
gees  at  Frankfort  were  distinguished;  for  "the  like 
benefit  could  nowhere  else  as  yet  be  obtained." 
Moreover,  they  were  of  one  mind;  their  commodi 
ties  of  living  were  more,  and  their  charges  less,  than 
they  had  found  elsewhere ;  and  not  a  man  of  the 
magistrates  or  common  people  of  the  city  but  met 
them  daily  with  kind  faces,  kind  hearts,  and  kind 
deeds. 

Thus  situated,  they  took  thought  for  their  breth 
ren  in  Strasburg,  Zurich,  and  other  places,  and  wrote 
to  them  on  the  2d  of  August,  stating  these  particu 
lars  of  their  condition,  and  inviting  them  with  great 
earnestness  and  affection  to  come  and  dwell  with 
them.  They  urged  with  emphasis,  and  as  their 
chief  persuasive,  that  "  no  greater  treasure  or  sweeter 
comfort  could  be  desired  by  a  Christian  man,  than 
to  have  a  church  wherein  he  may  serve  God  in 
purity  of  faith  and  integrity  of  life ;  which,  where 
we  would"  —  in  England  —  "we  could  not  there 
obtain  it " ;  and  reminding  them  "  that,  before,  we 
have  reasoned  together  in  hope  to  obtain  a  church 
free  from  all  dregs  of  superstitious  cere 
monies." 

They  also  wrote,  on  the  24th  of  September,  to 
Master  John  Knox  at  Geneva,  to  Master  James 
Haddon  at  Strasburg,  and  to  Master  Thomas  Lever 
at  Zurich,  whom  they  had  elected  for  their  ministers ; 
the  burden  of  the  letters  being,  "We  do  desire 
you  and  also  require 1  you  in  the  name  of  God  not 
to  deny  us  nor  to  refuse  these  our  requests  to  preach 
unto  us  the  most  lively  Word  of  God." 

1  Beseech. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  77 

John  Knox  was  now  in  the  ripeness  of  his  days, 
being  forty-eight  years  of  age.  He  had  been  one 
of  the  six  chaplains  in  ordinary  to  King  Edward, 
and,  like  Hooper,  had  been  charged  with  the  duty 
of  itinerant  preaching.1  Of  course,  he  had  enjoyed 
the  personal  favor  of  the  young  sovereign.  It  was 
through  his  influence  that,  in  the  second  correction 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  the  notion  of  "  the 
corporal  presence"  had  been  completely  excluded. 
He  had  been  offered  a  benefice  in  London,2  and  also 
a  bishopric.3  The  former  he  declined,  "not  will 
ing  to  be  bound,"  by  taking  upon  him  a  fixed 
charge,  "  to  use  King  Edward's  Book  entire  " ;  and 
the  latter,  "as  having  something  in  it  in  common 
with  Antichrist."  For  several  years  he  had  held,  and 
openly  avowed,  that  no  mortal  man  could  be  head 
of  the  Church ;  that  there  were  no  true  bishops  but 
such  as  themselves  preached  the  Gospel;  that  the 
clergy  ought  not  to  hold  civil  places,  titles,  and 
dignities;  that  in  religion,  especially  in  the  acts  of 
worship,  men  are  not  at  liberty  to  adopt  their  own 
inventions,  but  are  bound  to  regulate  themselves 
by  the  Scriptures;  and  that  the  sacraments  ought 
to  be  administered  exactly  according  to  the  institu 
tion  and  example  of  Christ.  Of  course,  he  objected 
to  many  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  ;  to  the  "  theatrical  dress,  the  inimical  gestures, 
and  the  vain  repetitions"  of  her  religious  service. 
When  asked  before  the  Privy  Council,  "  if  kneeling 
at  the  Lord's  table  were  not  indifferent?  "  he  replied: 
"  Christ's  action  was  most  perfect,  and  in  it  no  such 

1  McCrie,  66.  3  Fuller's  Abel  Redivivus,  320. 

2  Strype's  Memorials,  IV.  72.     Strype's  Parker,  366. 


78  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

posture  was  used.  It  is  most  safe  to  follow  his 
example.  Kneeling  is  an  addition  and  invention  of 
men."1  After  long  reasoning  with  him  respecting 
the  points  on  which  he  dissented  from  the  established 
order  of  the  Church,  he  was  told,  "  that  he  was  not 
called  before  the  Council  that  they  might  involve 
him  in  any  trouble,  though  they  were  sorry  that  he 
should  not  agree  with  the  common  order."  To  which 
he  replied,  "  that  he  was  sorry  that  the  common  order 
should  be  contrary  to  Christ's  institution."  Where 
upon  "with  some  gentle  speeches,"  he  was  dis 
missed.2 

Yet,  notwithstanding  his  objections  to  the  cere 
monies  of  the  English  Church,  he  could  conscien 
tiously  officiate  therein,  for  he  never  submitted  to 
the  unlimited  use  of  the  liturgy,  an  absolute  con 
formity  to  it  not  being  then  pressed  upon  ministers. 

With  these  sentiments,  he  had  left  England  soon 
after  King  Edward's  death,  and  arrived  in  Switzer 
land  about  the  end  of  March,  1554.  He  was  reluc 
tant  to  leave  Geneva ;  but,  being  persuaded  by 
Calvin,  he  consented,  and  came  to  Frankfort  on  the 
16th  of  November,  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  the 
English  refugees.3 

"  Why  are  ye  sae  sad  ?  "  he  asked,  as  he  observed 
with  surprise  the  troubled  countenances  of  Sutton, 
Whittingham,  and  others  who  came  to  welcome  him 
on  his  arrival. 


1  Knox's    rule,   rigidly  followed,  ture  the   first  supper  was  adminis- 

would  have  compelled  him  to  have  terecl  and  received, 

insisted  upon  a  reclining  posture  for  2  Strype's  Memorials,  IV.  73. 

communicants;  because  in  that  pos-  3  Pierce, 36.  McCrie, 66-76,94,99. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  79 

"  The  Lord  hath  seen  fit  to  try  our  faith  sorely," 
answered  Master  Whittingham.  "  The  sun  hath  shone 
brightly  upon  us,  and  just  as  we  begin  to  sing, 
'  The  lines  are  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places/  He 
covereth  our  sky  with  clouds." 

"'His  strength  is  in  the  clouds/  0  ye  oj  little 
faith  !  "  answered  Master  Knox,  with  energy.  "  They 
are  his  messengers  o'  gude ;  and  whin  they  ha'  un 
burdened  thimsels,  the  air  is  purged,  the  earth  is 
refreshed,  the  leaf  and  the  flower  laugh  i'  the 
sunlight,  the  birds  sing,  and  the  heart  o'  man  is 
made  glad.  Dinna  ye  ken  that  it  is  his  strength 
whilk  is  in  the  clouds  ?  Natheless,  the  puir  fleeced 
sheep  canna  haud  frae  tremblin'  whin  the  rain  pelt- 
eth,  the  mair  an  it  be  cauld.  But  tell  me,  my  fleeced 
anes,  what  be  the  clouds  ? " 

"Dissensions,"  answered  Master  Whittingham. 

"  Dis-sen-sions  ! "  exclaimed  Master  Knox  sharply. 

"  About  our  order  of  worship." 

"  I  was  advised  that  ye  were  o'  ane  mind  touching 
the  order  o'  worship." 

"  We  were,"  replied  Master  Whittingham,  "  and 
with  one  mind  and  heart  we  have  invited  our 
brethren  hither.  About  ten  days  agone  cometh 
Master  Kichard  Chambers  from  Zurich  with  letters 
from  the  brethren  there,  in  which  they  say  —  as 
they  did  also  in  a  letter  received  before  —  that  they 
will  join  us  here  an  we  stand  pledged  upon  our 
consciences  to  use  the  same  order  of  service  con 
cerning  religion  which  was  in  England  last  set  forth 
by  King  Edward ;  and  that  they  are  fully  determined 
to  admit  and  use  no  other." 

"Alack!"   exclaimed   Master   Knox,  "a  sair,  sair 


80  THE  MAKIAN  EXILES.  [On.  IV. 

thing  to  invent  ceremonies  to  adorn  God's  worship 
withal,  and  then  impose  their  minding.1  Na  gude 
can  come  o'  it  a'.  It  can  ainly  mak  the  godly  differ. 
Are  these  differences  wi'  the  brethren  o'  Zurich  the 
clouds  o'  whilk  ye  spak  ? " 

"  It  were  sad  enough/'  replied  Whittingham,  "  an 
there  were  no  others.  The  dissensions  are  among 
ourselves,  Master  Knox ;  and  have  been  sown  by 
these  letters  from  Zurich.2  Before  they  came,  we 
were  of  one  mind,  and  happy.  Now,  some  are  for 
our  present  order;  some,  for  the  order  of  King 
Edward's  Book." 

"Ha'  ye  heard  frae  Strasburg?" 

"  Once ;  and  a  very  strange  letter,  for  it  did  not 
in  any  point  answer  ours.  It  only  signified  that 
they  had  undertaken  to  appoint  a  superintendent3 
for  us,  of  which  we  wrote  nothing.4  We  had  fully 
determined  to  have  our  church  served  by  two  or 
three  proper  ministers  of  our  own  choosing,  and  of 
equal  authority.  We  do  not  wish  a  chief  superin 
tendent;  and  should  we,  he  would  be  elected  by 
ourselves." 


1  McCrie,  53.  number  -whom  they  might  choose, 

.  2  McCrie,  99,  100.  to  take  the  oversight  of  them." 

3  The  title  of  "  Bishop  "  was  very  But  the  "  general  letter,"  as  given 

generally  disused  in  common  speech  in  the  "  Discours,"  contains  no  sem- 

during  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.,  blance  of  such  a  request.  On  the 

and  that  of  "  Superintendent "  sub-  contrary,  it  was  afterward  a  matter 

stituted  in  its  place.  Strype's  Me-  of  complaint,  that  the  Strasburg 

morials,  IV.  141, 142.  McCrie,  408.  brethren  had  attempted  such  a 

*  Neal  has  made  a  mistake  on  thing.  Compare  "  Discours,"  pp. 

this  point.  His  words  are:  "The  13,  14.  The  error  of  Neal  is  im- 

congregation  at  Frankfort  sent  let-  portant  only  as  it  hides  the  fact  that 

ters  to  these  places  on  the  2d  of  the  Frankfort  Church  were  acting 

August,  1554,  beseeching  the  Eng-  upon  anti-prelatic,  and  even  con- 

lish  divines  to  send  some  of  their  gregational,  principles. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MAKIAN  EXILES.  81 

0 

"  An  ye  tak  not  to  having  lords  ower  God's  heri 
tage,  and  them  nane  o'  the  kirk's  election,  ye  do 
weel.  Hath  Master  Chambers  gane?" 

"Yesterday;   and  with  our  answer." 

"And  what  ha'  ye  writ?" 

"  That  we  desire  to  follow  King  Edward's  Book  as 
far  as  God's  Word  will  allow;  but  as  for  the  cere 
monies,  they  are  not  to  be  used,  because  some  of 
them  can  in  no  wise  be  tolerated  by  our  consciences, 
because  all  are  unprofitable,  and  because,  being  in 
a  strange  commonwealth,  we  cannot  be  suffered  to 
put  them  in  use  ;  and  better  it  were  they  should 
never  be  practised,  than  the  subversion  of  our  church 
should  be  hazarded  by  using  them." 

"Weel,  weel,  brethren,"  said  Master  Knox,  when 
the  conversation  had  been  protracted,  and  he  had 
heard  all  their  griefs  thoughtfully,  "let  us  wait  on 
the  Lord  sae  mickle  as  concerneth  happenings ;  but 
we  munna  put  aff  duties  whilk  be  plain  and  o'  the 
day,  ane  o'  whilk  is  —  peace.  I  canna  bide  conten 
tion  amang  brethren.  It  be  a  sair  evil,  and  munna 
be  permitted.  I  will  wark  amang  ye  in  the  name 
o'  the  Lord  in  the  whilk  ye  ha'  sent  for  me,  and  my 
first  prayer  maun  be  that  ye  be  o'  ane  mind.  I  say 
nae  mair  noo  about  the  folk  o'  Zurich ;  but  will  tak 
tent  o'  their  epistle  in  secret.  An  ye  hae  anither 
word  frae  Strasburg,  mayhap  light  will  shine  where 
it  be  unco  dark  noo." 

So  they  broke  up  their  council,  and  Master  Knox 
betook  himself  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  soul  to 
preaching  the  Word  and  reuniting  his  flock. 

On  the  29th  of  November  "oure  little  congrega 
tion  "  —  which,  however,  had  been  increased  by  new- 

VOL.   I.  11 


82  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

i 

comers  from  England  —  were  assembled  to  consider 
a  letter  from  their  brethren  at  Strasburg,  instigated 
by  those  at  Zurich.1  Its  bearers,  who  had  arrived 
the  day  before,  were  Master  Chambers  and  Master 
Edmund  Grindal ;  the  latter  now  thirty-five  years  of 
age.  He  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge ;  was  a 
preacher  of  great  repute  in  the  days  of  King  Edward ; 
had  been  one  of  his  chaplains ; 2  and  two  years 
before  —  young  as  he  then  was  —  had  been  offered 
a  bishopric,  but  had  been  prevented  from  entering 
upon  it  by  the  king's  illness  and  death.  He  had 
now  begun1  to  dislike  the  garments  enjoined  upon 
the  clergy  by  the  Church,  and  also  many  of  her 


ceremonies.3 


After  the  blessing  of  the  Divine  Spirit  had  been 
invoked,  the  letter  from  Strasburg  was  read;  the 
chief  point  of  which  was,  that  the  last  service-book 
of  King  Edward  should  be  adopted  at  Frankfort,  as 
far  as  might  be  done.  It  urged,  that  "  any  deviation 
from  that  Book  would  seem  to  condemn  its  authors, 
then  suffering  and  in  peril  of  life  for  it  in  England ; 
that  such  deviation  would  also  give  occasion  to  the 
Papists  to  accuse  their  doctrine  of  imperfection,  and 
them  of  fickleness;  and  that  it  would  cause  the 
godly  to  doubt  the  truth,  whereof  before  they  were 
persuaded." 

"  Brethren ! "  said  Master  Grindal,  when  the  read 
ing  of  the  letter  was  concluded,  "  Master  Chambers 
and  myself  have  come,  in  the  spirit  of  Christian 
fellowship,  to  pray  the  magistrates  to  grant  the 
English  a  separate  house  of  worship ;  but  chiefly, 

1  McCrie,  100.  3  Neal,  I.  155. 

2  Strype's  Grindal,  7. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  83 

to  pray  them  and  you  that  the  full  order  of  religious 
service  may  be  practised  here  as  set  forth  by  our 
late  sovereign  lord  the  king." 

"Wad  ye  ha'  us  tak  the  hail  Buke?"  inquired 
Master  Knox,  "wi?  the  ceremonies  it  commandeth, 
while  the  gude  folk  o'  Frankfort  amang  wha'  we 
dwell  canna  brook  them?" 

"  No,  Master  Knox,"  replied  Grindal,  "  we  do  not 
wish  to  insist  upon  such  ceremonies  and  things  as 
the  country  cannot  bear.  We  will  be  content  that 
such  be  omitted,  provided  only  that  we  may  use  the 
Book  in  its  substance  and  effect." 

66  What  do  you  mean,  Master  Grindal,  by  the  sub 
stance  of  the  Book?"  asked  Master  Whittingham. 

"Ay,"  said  Master  Knox,  "what  do  ye  mean 
preceesly?  Master  Whittingham  putteth  the  hail 
matter  in  a  hazle-shell." 

Master  Grindal,  after  consulting  a  moment  with 
Master  Chambers,  replied:  "We  appear,  brethren, 
as  spokesmen  for  others.  We  are  not  commissioned 
to  enter  upon  a  discussion  to  which  an  answer  to 
the  question  would  lead.  There  are  three  questions 
which  we  would  have  the  congregation  answer,  an  it 
pleaseth  them :  first,  what  parts  of  the  Book  will  ye 
admit?  second,  can  you  procure  a  place  of  wor 
ship  for  the  English  by  themselves  ?  and  third,  can 
we  be  assured  of  a  quiet  residence  if  we  come 
hither?"1 

After  some  little  deliberation,  it  was  replied,  that 
so  much  of  the  Book  would  be  admitted  as  they 
could  prove  to  stand  with  God's  Word,  and  as  the 
magistrates  would  permit;  that  as  for  a  separate 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  10. 


84  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  [Cn.  IV. 

place  of  worship,  there  were  political  reasons  why 
the  magistrates  could  not  move  in  the  matter  at 
present ;  and  that  assurance  had  from  the  first  been 
given  of  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  all  Englishmen 
who  might  desire  it. 

After  some  further  colloquy,  the  people  separated 
to  give  time  for  the  drafting  of  an  answer  to  the 
letter  from  Strasburg. 

"  I  confess/'  said  Grindal  to  Knox  when  they  were 
alone,  "  that  I  have  scruples  about  some  parts  of  the 
Book  of  Prayer,  about  some  of  the  ceremonies,  and 
about  the  vestments  of  the  clergy.  Yet  their  re 
jection  seemeth  to  touch  the  honor  of  those  who 
established  them." 

"  Dinna  ye  ken,"  replied  Master  Knox,  "  that  our 
gracious  sovereign  hissel  did  allow  his  clergy  to  step 
aside  frae  the  letter  o'  the  Buke  when  their  con 
sciences  could  na  agree  wi'  it  ?  Dinna  ye  ken,  that 
I  mysel  gat  na  rebuke  frae  his  Majesty,  wha  ken'd 
weel  that  I  did  na  and  wad  na  use  many  parts  o' 
it?  Certes,  his  Highness  did  na  think  that  I  dis- 
respekit  him ! " 

"  It  is  true,"  said  Grindal,  thoughtfully. 

"  An  he  did  na  think  that  I  disrespekit  him  in  sae 
doing  then,  why  should  ither  folk  think  I  disrespect 
him  in  sae  doing  now  ?  Na,  na,  Master  Grindal,  ye 
knaw  weel  that  he  did  na  his  sel'  think  the  Buke 
perfect,  and  sae  the  Buke  itsel  confesseth.1  He  did 
mak  changes  i'  his  lifetime.  He  wad  hae  made  mair, 
an  the  gude  God  had  sparit  his  life.2  And  ithers 
wha  were  zealous  for  the  reformation,  and  did  mend 

1  Neal,  I.  56,  and  note.  2  McCrie,  410. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  85 

the  Buke  as  it  now  standeth,  were  o'  the  same  mind 
and  the  same  purpose  wi'  his  Majesty.1  The  Arch 
bishop  his  sel'  did  gang  sae  far  i'  the  matter,  that  he 
drawit  up  wi'  his  ain  hand  a  Buke  o'  Prayer  whilk 
be  reportit  an  hundred  times  mair  perfect  than  this 
whilk  we  now  ha',  but  whilk  he  could  na  mak  to  be 
used,  he  being  matched  wi'  ither  clergy  sae  corrupt 
wi'  Popish  notions,  and  having  ither  enemies  besides.2 
Cranmer  and  Ridley  baith  did  intend  to  get  ane  act 
o'  Parliament  to  blaw  awa  the  Popish  garments  frae 
the  clergy.  Were  they  now  in  our  case,  amang 
those  wha  tak  offence  at  the  garments  and  cere 
monies,  I  mak  nae  doubt  they  wad  e'en  do  the  like 
whilk  we  ha'  done."3 

"  But  consider,  Master  Knox,"  said  Grindal,  "  what 
effect  our  departure  from  the  order  of  King  Ed 
ward's  Book  will  have  upon  those  who  are  now 
undergoing  persecution  in  England." 

"We  differ  naething  frae  them  i'  doctrine;  and 
verily  nane  o'  those  godly  folk  will  stand  to  the 

1  Discours,  p.  34,  last  paragraph  such  by  the  discontented  at  Frank- 
of  letter  to  Calvin.  fort ;  whereas  it  was  really  the  re- 

2  The    following  passage    occurs  port  of  one  of  Cox's  side,  and  he 
in  Pierce's   "Vindication,"   p.    13:  reported  it  upon   his   own   knowl- 
"  I  see  no  reason  to  question  the  edge."     This  is  important,  although 
truth  of  what  is  related  in  the  his-  no  authority  is  given  for  the  con- 
tory  of  the  Troubles  at  Frankfort,  eluding  statement.     I  think  it  can- 
that    Cranmer,   Bishop   of   Canter-  not    rest    upon    anything    in    the 
bury,   had    draAvn   up   a  Book    of  Discours;   for,  if  I  have  read  cor- 
Prayer  a  hundred  times  more  per-  rectly  its  somewhat  blind  language 
feet  than  this  we  now  have ;  that  on  page  50,  the  writer  traces  it  no 
the  same  could  not  take  place  for  further    than    to    Bullinger.       Did 
that  he  was  matched  with  such  a  lie  receive   it  from  "one  of  Cox's 
wicked     clergy     and    convocation,  side "  ? 

Which   passage    Strype   speaks   of,        3  Discours,  21.     McCrie,  78,  79, 
as   pretended   to   be   the  words  of    408,  410.     Pierce,  44. 
Bullinger,    and    handed    about    as 


86  THE  MARIAN  EXILES-  [Cn.  IV. 

death  in  defence  o'  ceremonies  which,  as  the  Buke 
specifieth,  upon  just  cause  may  be  altered.  An  they 
demur  to  come  hither  where  they  may  ha'  sae  great 
privilege,  —  an  they  demur,  I  say,  ainly  because  o' 
the  braking  o'  a  ceremony,  they  maun  be  slenderly 
taught  what  be  the  first  principles  o'  the  Gospel  o' 
Christ."1 

"I  repeat  it,  Master  Knox,  that  I  have  doubts 
about  some  things  enjoined  by  the  Book.  Yet  I  am 
accustomed  to  respect  it,  and  cannot  easily  turn 
aside  from  it." 

66 1  ken  weel  that  you  desire  to  do  the  will  o'  your 
Master  wha  is  in  heaven;  and  doubt  not  he  will 
mak  you  to  understand  his  will  in  gude  time.  I 
wad  na  ha'  you  do  that  aboot  whilk  you  doubt. 
You  maun  follow  your  conscience  while  it  saith, 
6  Stick  to  the  Buke.'  The  ceremonies,  and  laughable 
fooleries,  and  comical  dresses,2  winna  hurt  your  ain 
sel',  —  I  say  naething  o'  some  weak  brother  being  led 
into  sin  by  them,  —  but  John  Knox  canna  use  them, 
wi'  his  conscience,  an  he  would;  and  would  na,  for 
their  silliness,  an  he  could." 

"What  you  have  now  said  will  be  the  substance 
of  your  answer  to  our  letter,  I  suppose." 

"Na,  na;  I  be  na  prelate  to  lord  it  ower  God's 
heritage.  But  it  will  be  the  answer,  an  what  I  ha' 
said  agreeth  wi'  the  minds  o'  the  congregation.  And 
ane  thing  mair  will  be  the  answer,  —  that  an  the 
brethren  o'  Strasburg  tak  a  journey  hither  for  to 
establish  the  ceremonies,  it  will  be  mair  to  their  ain 
charges  than  to  any  general  gucle ;  for  we  will 
practise  the  Buke  ainly  sae  far  as  God's  Word  doth 

1  Discours,  25.  2  McCrie,  409. 


CH.  IV.]  THE  MARIAN  EXILES.  87 

assure  it,   and  the  state  of  the  country  doth  per 
mit."1 

What  Knox  had  said  to  Grindal  did  agree  with 
the  minds  of  the  congregation;  and  was  the  sub 
stance  of  the  answer  which  they  sent  to  Strasburg 
four  days  afterwards.  Such  too,  for  the  most  part, 
had  been  their  letter  of  the  .1st  of  November  to 
those  at  Zurich. 

1  Discours,  25,  26. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT. 

CALVIN  ON  THE  ENGLISH  BOOK/— ADVISES  MUTUAL  YIELDING.  —  STRIFES.  — 
AGREEMENT.  —  DR.  Cox  ARRIVES.  —  DISTURBS  THE  WORSHIP.  —  THE  PULPIT 

USURPED,  AND  THE  CONGREGATION  TAUNTED.  —  KNOX  REBUKES  THE  PRO 
CEEDING,  AND  JUSTIFIES  HIMSELF.  —  COX  AND  HIS  PARTY  ADMITTED  TO 

VOTE.  —  THEY  ADOPT  THE  ENGLISH  BOOK.  —  THE  MAGISTRATES  ENFORCE 
THE  FRENCH  ORDER.  —  KNOX  CHARGED  WITH  TREASON.  —  HE  is  ADVISED 
TO  LEAVE.  —  His  DEPARTURE.  —  THE  ENGLISH  LITURGY  BROUGHT  IN  BY 
ARTIFICE.  —  THE  ORIGINAL  CONGREGATION  DISPERSE  TO  OTHER  CITIES. 

1554,  1555. 

THE  unhappy  differences  in  the  congregation,  oc 
casioned  by  the  letters  from  Zurich,  were  increased 
by  the  mission  from  Strasburg.  About  the  20th  of 
December,  hopeless  of  union  with  the  brethren  of 
those  cities,  and  anxious  for  harmony,  the  congrega 
tion  sought  "  to  conclude  upon  some  certain  order 
by  common  consent,"  and  without  delay ;  their  pre 
vious  order,  it  would  seem,  having  been  only  pro 
visional.  At  length  it  was  agreed  that  the  order 
of  worship  used  by  the  church  of  Geneva,  of  which 
John  Calvin  was  minister,  should  take  place,  "  as  an 
order  most  godly  and  fartherest  off  from  supersti 
tion."  They  therefore  requested  Master  Knox  to 
put  it  into  practice,  and  to  administer  the  sacrament 
according  to  it.  Although  he  approved  of  it,  yet, 
because  he  would  do  nothing  which  might  tend  to 
widen  and  continue  a  discreditable  variance  with 
their  other  brethren,  he  would  not  consent  to  use 


CH.  V.]      THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.         89 

it  until  they  had  been  consulted.1  Nor  would  he 
administer  the  sacrament  according  to  the  Book  of 
England,  because,  he  said,  "  there  were  things  in  that 
communion  service  having  no  warrant  in  the  Bible, 
and  which  had  also  long  been  superstitiously  and 
wickedly  abused  in  the  Mass  of  the  Romish  Church." 
He  therefore  requested,  if  he  might  not  be  permitted 
to  officiate  according  to  his  own  conscience,  that 
some  other  one  might  do  it,  and  he  would  only 
preach;  but  that,  if  neither  might  be  granted,  he 
might  be  released  from  his  charge.  To  the  latter, 
however,  the  congregation  would  by  no  means  con 
sent. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  number  of  English  refugees 
had  increased;  some  of  whom  took  no  small  pains 
to  undo  the  existing  order  of  things,  and  to  bring  in 
place  the  full  use  of  the  English  service.  In  this 
state  of  affairs  Knox  and  Whittingham  requested 
Calvin's  opinion  of  the  English  Book,  at  the  same 
time  sending  him  a  large  "  description "  of  it ;  for  it 
was  hoped  that  the  counsel  of  one  in  so  high  repute, 
as  a  learned,  discreet,  and  godly  man,  and  "whose 
advice  had  been  gratefully  received  and  acknowl 
edged  by  Cranmer"2  and  his  associates,  might  con 
duce  to  unanimity. 

In  his  reply,  dated  January  20th,  1554-5,  Calvin 
said  that  he  saw  in  the  English  Liturgy  "many 
tolerable  foolishnesses,"  —  "things  unapt,  but  suffer- 
able,"  would  be  a  more  generous  translation  of 
"  tolerabiles  ineptias,"  —  a  phrase  at  which  English 
writers  have  taken  great  offence.  But  he  added : 
"  By  these  words  I  mean,  that  there  is  not  that  purity 

1  McCrie,  100,  and  note.  2  Pierce,  26. 

VOL.  i.  12 


90         THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [Cn.  V. 

or  perfection  which  was  to  be  desired ;  which  imper 
fections,  though  they  could  not  at  first  be  remedied, 
were  to  be  borne  with  for  a  time  in  regard  that  no 
manifest  impiety  was  contained  in  them.  It  was 
therefore  so  far  lawful  to  begin  with  such  beggarly 
rudiments,  that  the  learned,  grave,  and  godly  minis 
ters  of  Christ  might  be  thereby  encouraged  for  pro 
ceeding  further  in  setting  out  somewhat  which  might 
prove  more  pure  and  perfect,"  —  the  very  policy  of 
Cranmer  and  his  co-workers.  "  If  true  religion  had 
flourished  till  this  time  in  England,  it  had  been  ne 
cessary  that  many  things  in  that  Book  should  have 
been  omitted,  and  others  altered  to  the  better.  But 
now  that  all  such  principles  are  out  of  force,  and 
that  you  were  to  constitute  a  church  in  another 
place,  and  that  you  were  at  liberty  to  compose  such 
a  form  of  worship  which  might  be  useful  to  the 
Church,  and  more  conducive  to  edification  than  the 
other  did,  I  know  not  what  to  think  of  those  who 

are  so  much  delighted  in  the  dregs  of  Popery 

A  new  model  is  much  different  from  an  alteration," 
—  or,  as  in  the  translation  in  "  the  Discours,"  "  This 
new  order  "  (which  you  propose)  "  far  differeth  from 
a  change."  The  substance  of  his  advice  was :  "As  I 
would  not  have  you  too  stiff  and  peremptory,  if  the 
infirmity  of  some  men  suffer  them  not  to  come  up 
unto  your  own  desires ;  so  I  must  needs  admonish 
others,  not  to  be  too  much  pleased  with  their  wants 
and  ignorances."  In  other  words,  he  disliked  the 
Liturgy,  but  would  advise  each  party  to  yield  some 
thing  of  their  preferences. 

This  letter  we    quote  somewhat   largely,   that  it 
may  here  appear  how  far  removed  Calvin  was,  in  this 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.         91 

instance   at   least,  from   austere   bigotry   and   intol 


erance.1 


At  first,  this  letter  so  far  quieted  the  congregation,2 
that  another  modification  of  their  order  of  worship 
was  canvassed.  But  while  it  was  liked  by  many,  it 
was  stoutly  resisted  by  others.  Disagreement  grew 
to  contention ;  contention,  to  crimination.  "  New- 
fangledness  "  ;  "  singularity  " ;  "  stirrers  of  contention 
and  unquietness,"  —  were  freely  charged  upon  those 
who  sought  for  greater  simplicity  in  their  ritual. 
The  aspect  of  affairs  became  alarming. 

At  this  crisis,  Master  Gilby,  startled  by  such  un- 
christlike  wranglings,  threw  himself  upon  his  knees 
before  them,  and  besought  them  with  "  godly  grief" 
and  with  tears  to  reform  their  judgments  ;  to 
protest  solemnly  that,  in  this  matter,  they  would 
not  seek  the  gratification  of  their  own  preferences, 
but  God's  glory  only.  "  Such,"  said  he,  "  I  am  verily 
persuaded  that  we,  who  are  so  sore  charged,  are 
ready  to  do.  In  God's  holy  name,  hear  me,  brethren. 
Peace,  peace,  brethren,  cost  what  it  may!"  Then, 
stretching  his  arm  upward,  as  if  appealing  to  Heaven, 
he  added,  with  the  impressive  energy  of  sincerity: 
"  Gladly  would  I  have  this  right  hand  stricken  off, 
could  the  sacrifice  bring  us  to  a  godly  unity ! " 

The  appeal  was  felt.  The  wrangling  was  hushed. 
The  spirit  of  strife  took  flight.  The  Spirit  of  God 
prevailed.  Shame  crept  from  one  to  another;  and 
then,  grief;  and  then,  penitence.  Their  hearts 

1  I  have  adopted  the  translation  think  easier  to  be  understood  than 

of  this   letter  as  given  in  Heylin's  that  in  the  Discours. 
History  of  the  Presbyterians,  Bk.  I.         2  McCrie,  101. 
Sec.    17.     It  is  bad  English,  but  I 


92         THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [Cn.  V. 

warmed,   melted,   blended.      They  heard   the    voice 
of  the  Master. 

The  opinions  of  parties  were  not  changed,  —  the 
moment  had  nothing  to  do  with  opinions,  —  but  their 
tempers  were ;  and  they  were  in  the  right  state  to 
receive  opinions.  Knox,  Lever,  Parry,  and  Whitting- 
ham  were  directed  "  to  devise  some  order,  if  it  might 
be,  to  end  all  strife  and  contention."  As  soon  as 
this  committee  met  for  conference,  Master  Knox 
said,  with  true  Christian  magnanimity :  "  I  perceive 
that  no  end  o'  contention  is  to  be  hoped  for  unless 
there  be  some  relenting.  For  the  sake  o'  quiet,  I 
will  e'en  do  my  part.  I  will  gie  my  opinion  wi'  a' 
honesty  o'  heart ;  how  i'  my  ain  judgment  may  be 
maist  for  the  edification  o'  this  puir  flock.  An  ye 
like  it  not,  I  will  cease,  and  commit  the  hail  matter 
to  be  ordered  by  ye  as  ye  will  answer  to  Christ 
Jesus  at  the  last  day." 

After  sufficient  conference,  an  order  was  agreed 
upon.  The  party  who  wished  for  a  more  simple  form 
suffered  the  others  to  select  from  King  Edward's  Book 
those  things  for  which  they  were  most  urgent,  as  of 
chief  importance ;  and  to  these  some  other  things 
were  added  which  the  position  of  that  particular 
church  seemed  to  require.  This  was  done  upon  the 
condition  —  to  which  the  congregation  agreed  —  that 
the  order  of  service  thus  arranged  should  continue, 
without  alteration,  at  least  until  the  last  day  of  April 
following,  when,  if  any  new  matter  of  difference 
should  have  arisen,  it  should  be  referred  to  Calvin, 
Musculus,  Martyr,  Bullinger,  and  Yiret,  and  by  them 
be  determined.  The  compact  was  then  put  in  writ 
ing.  "Moreover,  thanks  were  given  to  God  with 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.         93 

great  joy,  and  common  prayers  were  made,  for  that 
men  thought  that  day  to  be  the  end  of  discord." 
The  Lord's  Supper,  which  had  been  neglected  three 
months,  was  administered  as  a  seal  of  their  agree 
ment;  in  which  good  Master  Yaleran  participated 
with  great  joy. 

This  important  adjustment  was  made  on  the  6th 
of  February,  1554-5. 

On  the  12th  of  March,  a  company  of  stranger 
Englishmen  arrived  at  the  inn  of  Fritz  Hansen. 
When  they  had  refreshed  themselves  at  his  generous 
board,  one  of  them  asked  him,  somewhat  querulously, 
whether  he  had  or  had  not  sent  for  Master  Whitting- 
ham  and  Master  Knox.  Being  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  the  querist  turned  to  one  of  his  com 
panions,  saying  in  English,  "You  can  manage  this 
German  language  better  than  I,  Doctor  Horn.  Will 
you  please  catechize  the  man?" 

Upon  which,  Doctor  Horn,  addressing  Fritz,  asked, 
"You  know  our  countrymen  in  Frankfort?" 

"Yes,  sir;  and  proud  to  say  it." 

"  No  doubt,  no  doubt.  Englishmen  are  an  honor 
to  any  city.  But  we  are  told  that  our  countrymen 
here  have  not  been  peaceable  among  themselves  in 
religious  matters." 

"  0,  sir !  that 's  all  over  now.  It  was  only  for  a 
little  while.  To-morrow  —  let  me  see !  This  is  the 
twelfth  day  of  March.  Yes  —  to-morrow  will  be  five 
weeks  since  they  came  to  a  happy  agreement." 

"  Humph !  An  agreement  to  be  half  one  thing 
and  half  another;  half  English  and  half  Genevan, — 
was  it  not?" 


94         THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.       [Cn.  V. 

Fritz,  wondering  not  a  little  at  such  a  way  of 
speaking  about  Christian  harmony,  replied,  "They 
have  a  Liturgy,  good  sir." 

"But  not  like  the  English." 

"I  am  told  that  some  of  it  is  like  the  English, 
and  some  of  it  not." 

"So  we  have  heard.  But  have  they  continued 
this  new  way  up  to  this  time  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir ;  and  under  the  new  way,  they  live  very 
quietly  and  happily." 

"  Enough ;  if  our  countrymen  for  whom  we  have 
sent  ever  come,  show  them  in." 

It  was  as  Fritz  had  said.  The  five  weeks  since 
the  6th  of  February  had  passed  peacefully  and  hap 
pily  with  the  English  church,  under  the  modified 
Liturgy  agreed  upon.  The  good  people  of  Frank 
fort,  seeing  them  once  more  walking  in  love  and 
worshipping  in  unity,  had  almost  forgotten  the  by 
gone  strifes ;  while  the  exiles  themselves  had  fol 
lowed  their  secular  pursuits  without  distraction,  and 
their  worship  without  bitterness.  They  had  indeed 
to  regret  that  all  their  fellow-exiles  should  not  be 
united  in  one  home  and  one  church ;  and  especially, 
that  any  should  stand  aloof  merely  through  a  rigid 
reverence  for  forms,  whose  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
authority  had  come  to  an  end,  whose  stability  and 
perfection  even  their  authors  had  never  pretended, 
and  which  were  displeasing  to  the  Keformed  churches 
among  whom  the  exiles  had  taken  refuge.  This  re 
gret,  however,  had  not  intermeddled  with  their  joy. 

The  company  who  had  just  taken  possession  of 
Fritz  Hansen's  hostel  were  Doctor  Kichard  Cox, 
Tutor,  Almoner,  and  Privy  Councillor  of  the  late 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.         95 

King  Edward,1  Doctor  Kobert  Horn,  lately  resid 
ing  at  Zurich,  and  "others  of  great  note  and  qual 
ity."2  Cox  was  one  of  several  whom  they  of 
Strasburg  had  officiously  proposed  to  take  over 
sight  and  charge  of  the  church  at  Frankfort;  and 
Horn  had  signed  the  letter  of  the  13th  of  October 
from  Zurich,  avowing  a  "  full  determination  to  admit 
and  use  no  other  order  than  the  last  taken  in  the 
Church  of  England." 

They  were  soon  greeted  by  the  principal  members 
of  the  English  church,  and  welcomed  with  honest 
cordiality.  When  Doctor  Cox  announced  that  he 
and  his  companions  had  come  to  abide  there,  Master 
Whittingham  replied  with  sincerity :  "We  thank  God! 
Would  that  all  our  countrymen  who  are  beyond  the 
paw  of  the  tigress  and  the  spite  of  the  Lutheran 
were  one  family,  in  one  tabernacle,  and  at  one 
altar ! " 

"We  do  our  part,  you  see,  to  forward  your 
prayer,"  replied  Doctor  Horn.  "And  now,  good 
sir,  we  would  fain  find  better  commodity  of  lodging 
than  this  hostel,  an  we  may.  An  your  better  ac 
quaintance  with  Frankfort  may  serve  us  in  this,  we 
shall  be  beholden  for  your  kindness." 

"  We  do  remember  our  own  needs  when  we  came 
hither,"  replied  Master  Whittingham ;  "  and  how  the 
kind  words  and  good  offices  of  Master  Valeran  and 
Master  Morellio  were  like  cold  water  to  our  fainting 
spirits.  God  forbid  that  we  fail  in  the  like  to  you. 
An  there  be  Christian  hearts  in  Frankfort,  ye  shall 
have  entertainment  and  every  brotherly  service, 
anon." 

1  Fox,  n.  653.    Biog.  Britan.  2  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  6. 


96         THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.       [Cn.  V. 

The  offer  was  as  gladly  accepted  as  it  was  heart- 
ily  made ;  and  all  hospitality  and  kindness  were  im 
mediately  extended  to  the  new-comers.1  When  the 
order  of  religious  service  was  spoken  of,  and  their 
hopes  expressed  that  some  further  return  to  that  of 
King  Edward's  Book  might  be  attained,  they  were 
told  unequivocally  that  the  present  order  could  not 
be  changed  until  the  last  of  April,  without  breach 
of  a  promise  which  had  been  established  by  invoca 
tion  of  God's  name ;  that  the  holy  sacrament  had 
been  received  as  the  sure  token  or  seal  of  the  present 
agreement;  and  that  therefore  it  would  be  a  sort 
of  sacrilege  to  change.  It  was,  moreover,  frankly 
stated,  that  any  further  adoption  of  the  English 
Book  would  be  offensive  to  the  honest  consciences 
of  the  church,  and  would  hazard  the  good-will  of 
the  citizens  and  the  favor  of  the  magistrates.2 

"  So,  we  find  all  things  just  as  we  expected,  Doc 
tor  Cox,"  said  Doctor  Horn,  so  soon  as  they  were  by 
themselves  again.  "What  with  their  conscience, 
as  they  call  it,  their  seal  of  agreement,  and  the 
magistrates,  we  are  like  to  have  enow  to  look  after 
in  putting  down  this  upstart  new-fangledness." 

"  Mark  me  ! "  replied  Doctor  Cox,  with  vehemence, 
"we  have  come  for  the  very  purpose  of  putting  it 
down;3  and  it  shall  be  done.  I  put  not  my  hand 

1  Pierce,  36.  Biog.  Britan.,  Article  Cox.      I  can- 

2  There   is  no  record  that  these  not  help  it,  that  Heylin  contradicts 
statements  were  formally  made  to  his  statement  (Bk.  I.  Sec.  18),  that 
Dr.  Cox  and  his  party ;  but,  under  Cox  was  "  brought  thither  by  the 
the  circumstances  of  the  church,  it  noise  of  so  great  a  schism,"  by  say- 
cannot  for  a  moment  be  supposed,  ing    (Bk.    VI.    Sec.   6)   that    Cox 
that  he  was  not  knowing  of  them  and  Horn  "  found  all  things  contrary 
before  the  doings  of  the  next  day.  to  their  expectations."     What  had 

8  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  I.    Sec.    18.     been  done  at  Frankfort    had  not 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.         97 

to  the  plough  and  look  back.  I  have  come  to  repair 
this  broken  wall;  and,  if  need  be,  will  copy  Nehe- 
miah,  with  his  trowel  in  one  hand  and  his  sword 
in  the  other.  To  the  wind  with  agreements  and 
pledges  and  consciences,  an  they  go  in  anything 
to  deface  the  worthy  ordinances  and  laws  of  our 
sovereign  lord,  King  Edward,  of  most  famous  mem 
ory.  An  I  fail  in  one  way,  I  will  invoke  another." 

"But  they  are  so  confiding  and  brotherly,"  ob 
jected  Doctor  Horn,  "  it  will  seem  like  treachery  to 
do  violence  to  their  arranging." 

"  Say  rather,  their  Pranging.  An  Master  Knox's 
conscience  turn  holy  things  upside  down,  and  my 
conscience  bid  me  put  them  to  rights  again,  pray 
who  should  yield?  Must  I  stay  reformation,  for 
sooth,  because  another  maketh  naughty  pledge  in 
God's  name  and  on  the  sacrament  ?  Must  I  be 
squeamish  on  the  score  of  common  courtesy  and 
common  hospitality  ?  We  will  try  whether  will 
prevail  with  Englishmen,  —  the  Primer  of  a  vulgar 
Scot,  or  the  Liturgy  of  a  king ;  so  mean  a  fellow  as 
John  Knox,1  or  the  friend  and  Councillor  of  Edward 
the  Sixth.  We  will  try  it  —  an  the  heavens  fall, 
Doctor  Horn  —  at  to-morrow  morning's  prayers." 

They  did  try  it ;  and  the  first  "  response  "  in  prayer 
from  their  lips  —  like  a  discord  in  soothing  music  — 

been   done   in    a    corner.      Every  quieting  the    church."     Of  course 

movement  there  was  well  known  he    meant    to    do    it    as    he   did. 

by  all  the  exiles  elsewhere,  and  had  (Strype's  Memorials,  V.  410.)      In 

produced  no  small  excitement.    Be-  this  supposititious  dialogue,  I  have 

sides,  we  have  a  letter  from  Grindal  simply  aimed  to  exhibit  the  object 

to    Ridley,    dated    May,    1555,   in  and  spirit  of  Dr.  Cox  and  his  asso- 

which  he  says  expressly,  that  "  Mas-  ciates,  so  deplorably  demonstrated 

ter  Cox  and  others  met  there  "  —  at  in  every  step  of  their  proceedings. 

Frankfort  —  "for  ike  purpose  of  well-  l  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  I.  Sec.  18. 

VOL.    I.  13 


98         THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.       [Cn.  V. 

wrought  consternation  and  grief.  The  spirit  of  de 
votion  fell,  like  a  clipped  bird.  The  form  of  prayer 
proceeded  •  but,  to  the  last  "Amen,"  not  a  prayer  had 
gone  up  to  God,  —  nothing  but  amazement,  a  sense 
of  wrong,  and  exultation  for  a  successful  plot.  Of 
course  there  were  complaint  and  commotion.  The 
elders  rebuked  their  guests  for  so  rude  a  violation  of 
order  in  a  brotherhood  by  whom  they  had  just  been 
welcomed,  and  in  unsuspecting  faith.  It  was  of  no 
avail.  The  others  only  retorted,  that  the  dishonor 
of  their  country's  ritual  merited  dishonor ;  that  they 
would  do  as  they  had  done  in  England;  that  they 
would  have  the  face  of  an  English  church. 

This  was  on  the  13th  of  the  month,  —  Tuesday 
or  Wednesday.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  precis 
ians  attempted  any  other  outrage  during  the  week ; 
but  by  some  crafty  measures,  not  on  record,  the 
pulpit  on  Sunday  forenoon  was  occupied  —  abrupt 
ly,  and  without  the  previous  consent  of  the  congre 
gation  proper  —  by  a  preacher  of  Cox's  party,  who 
read  the  Litany  of  King  Edward's  Book,  to  which 
Doctor  Cox  and  his  friends  gave  the  responses.  Not 
content  with  this,  the  minister  in  his  sermon  uttered 
many  taunting  and  bitter  speeches  against  the  past 
doings  and  present  order  of  the  congregation. 

Wounded  and  excited  by  so  barefaced  an  assault, 
several  of  the  church  urged  Master  Knox,  whose 
turn  it  was  to  preach  in  the  afternoon,  to  clear  them 
of  the  defamation.1  This  he  did;  protesting  in  a 
spirited  manner  against  the  impiety  and  indecency 
of  renewing  differences  which  had  just  been  recon- 

1  For  these   several  particulars,  compare  pp.  39  and  48  of  the  Dis- 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.         99 

ciled ;  "  which  thing,"  he  said,  "  became  not  the 
proudest  of  them  to  have  attempted."  He  added, 
"  that  nothing  could  be  righteously  imposed  upon  a 
Christian  congregation,  but  what  had  warrant  from 
the  Word  of  God;  that  in  the  English  Book  were 
many  things  superstitious  and  impure,  which  he 
would  not  consent  should  be  adopted  there ;  that  if 
any  men  would  go  about  to  burden  that  free  con 
gregation  with  them,  he  would  not  fail  upon  proper 
occasion  to  withstand  him." 

Doctor  Cox  —  thinking  it  proper  that  a  church 
should  be  publicly  whipped  by  their  guests,  and 
improper  that  the  church  should  protest  —  sharply 
assailed  their  minister  so  soon  as  he  had  left  the 
pulpit ;  particularly  for  impugning  King  Edward's 
Book. 

"  I  canna  be  fashed  wi'  vain  disputings,"  said  the 
shrewd  Scot.  "It  were  muckle  pains  for  meagre 
gains.  Naithless,  I  wad  propound  some  sma'  matter 
to  be  reflected  aboot.  King  Edward  o'  blessed  mem 
ory  did  set  forth  twa  Bukes ;  ane  o'  whilk  was  put 
thegither  under  Doctor  Cox's  counselling  and  advice.1 
But  it  provit  sae  lame  and  unperfect,  that  his  Majesty 
was  malcontent,  and  wad  hae  a  better.  Sae  also  was 
Doctor  Cox  his  sel' ;  wha  writ  to  Master  Bullinger 
when  Master  Hooper  was  in  trouble  about  the  vest 
ments,  that  it  had  need  o'  unco  tinkering,  '  for  that 
a'  things  i'  the  church  ought  to  be  pure  and  simple, 
far  removit  frae  the  pomps  and  elements  o'  the 
warld,' 2  —  an  opinion  mair  true  than  whilk  the  Doctor 
never  spakit.  Weel ;  anent  the  auld  Buke  —  whilk 

1  Neal,  I.  46.     Pierce,  36. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  99.     Pierce,  39.    McCrie,  409. 


100        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [Cn.  V. 

were  not  abune  twa  or  three  years  in  gettin'  decrepit 
—  anent  the  auld  Buke  the  gude  king's  craftsmen, 
ane  o'  wham  was  the  same  learned  Doctor/  did 
frame  a  new  ane.  This  new  ane  ha'  met  wi'  a  warse 
mishap  than  the  ither,  whilk  cam  to  a  natural  death, 
and  whilk  the  Parliament  puttit  i'  the  grave  wi'  a 
show  o'  respect  •  for  by  special  act  it  ha'  been  con 
demned  wi'  shame  to  no  funeral,  like  ane  untimely 
birth.  Twa  Bukes  —  twa  Parliaments  —  twa  deaths. 
Now,  wi'  what  face  Doctor  Cox  can  order  me  to  the 
use  o'  a  Buke  whilk  the  present  law  o'  his  ain 
country  hae  branded  and  forbid  to  be  used,  I  canna 
comprehend.  Nay,  mair;  I  marvel  to  hear  orders 
how  to  pray  frae  him  wha  hath  twice  failed  to  make 
a  Buke  o'  Prayers  that  wad  live.  We  hae  a  Buke 
here,  Doctor,  whilk  be  alive;  while  your  ain,  i'  the 
eye  o'  the  English  law,  be  dead.  Now  John  Knox, 
being  ane  simple  man  o'  his  sel',  and  misdoubting 
your  authority,  submitteth  his  ain  puir  judgment  to 
the  better  judgment  o'  King  Solomon,  wha  writ  that 
a  living  dog  be  better  than  a  dead  lion." 

But  playful  irony  availed  no  more  with  Doctor 
Cox,  than  grave  rebuke  from  the  pulpit.  He  had 
flung  a  firebrand  upon  combustibles,  and  he  would 
fan  it.  Many  words  passed  to  and  fro,  but  with  no 
other  result  than  to  fix  upon  Tuesday  to  canvass 
this  new-blown  variance. 

But  on  Tuesday,  the  purpose  to  insure  respect  for 
the  violated  order  of  worship  was  forestalled.  Upon 
the  very  threshold  of  their  deliberations,  it  was 
moved  to  admit  Doctor  Cox  and  his  party  to  vote 
upon  all  questions.  "  Are  they  not  Christians  ? "  it 

1  Strype's  Memorials,  IV.  20. 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        101 

was  urged.  "  Are  they  not  of  the  same  country  ? 
Are  they  not  in  the  same  exile  ?  of  the  same  nation 
al  communion  ?  of  the  same  doctrine  ?  Why  bar 
them  from  the  full  privileges  of  Christ's  English 
family  in  Frankfort?" 

"  Suppose  all  these  things  true/'  it  was  replied, 
"they  hold  another  mind  on  the  question  before 
us.  First  settle  the  question ;  then,  the  admission. 
Again,  they  should  first  comply  with  the  condition, 
to  which  we  have  all  submitted,  to  subscribe  our 
discipline.  And  yet  again,  we  doubt  that  they  are 
of  the  same  doctrine,  and  do  suspect  some  of  them, 
at  least,  of  Popery ;  of  having  been  at  Mass  at 
home ;  ay,  of  having  their  names  now  subscribed  to 
wicked  and  blasphemous  articles,  not  sparing  this 
well-grounded  suspicion  of  the  very  minister  who 
brake  our  order  on  Sunday  and  chastised  us  in  his 
sermon." l  "  For  these  considerations  and  such  like," 
says  the  chronicle,  "  the  congregation  withstood  the 
admission  of  Doctor  Cox  and  his  company." 

At  last  Master  Knox  gave  his  voice.  "Thraw 
open  the  door ;  thraw  open  the  door !  An  there  be 
Papist  hypocrite  amang  them,  the  sin  be  on  his  ain 
head.  We  hae  gied  them  the  honest  shake  o'  the 
hand,  the  kiss  o'  charity,  the  gude  faith  o'  brethren. 
We  hae  brakkit  wi'  them  our  crust,  and  shared  wi' 
them  our  cup,  our  names,  our  chambers,  and  our 
sanctuary.  Let  us  gie  them  #' !  Let  them  ne'er  gang 
awa  saying,  <  We  came  i'  the  name  o'  Christ,  i'  the 
name  o'  Mither  Church,  i'  the  name  o'  England,  and 
when  we  knockit  at  the  wicket  o'  the  privy  congre 
gation,  they  bad  us  begane ! '  I  ken  weel  their 

1  Compare  pp.  39,  48  of  the  Discours. 


102         THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [Cu.  \ . 

hankerings.  They  ken  weel  our  mislikings.  An  we 
gie  them  a'  we  hae  to  gie, —  an  we  gie  them  the 
anely  thing  we  hae  not  gied,  —  they  canna  look  us  i' 
the  face,  and  lift  up  the  heel  anent  the  simple  way 
whilk  we  hae  elected  to  worship  God,  —  the  way  to 
whilk  we  hae  tied  the  strings  o'  our  hearts.  They 
canna  be  sae  cruel  to  brak  doon  our  Bethel  and  mak 
it  a  Baca.  The  streei>stanes  o'  Frankfort  wad  cry 
out ! " 

Master  Knox's  "  intretie "  and  influence  prevailed 
with  so  many  as,  joined  to  the  proposers  of  the 
measure,  made  a  majority.  The  new  company  were 
admitted  ;  and  were  enough,  with  those  of  the 
original  congregation  who  favored  the  Liturgy,  to 
control  the  whole.  The  axe  was  then  struck  at  the 
root  of  the  tree.  Doctor  Cox  forthwith  procured  a 
vote  which  "forbade  Knox  to  meddle  anye  more 
in  that  congregation.  Thus  was  he  put-owt  by  those 
which  he  brought  in." 

"  What  now !  at  odds  again ! "  said  Master  John 
Glawberge,  the  next  day,  when  Master  Whittingham 
broke  these  doings  to  him,  — "  at  odds  again ! " 

"  Good  sir !  we  are  a  chaos,  at  best.  My  heart 
misgiveth  me  that  we  are  worse.  There  be  ill  spirit 
on  both  parts.  Wherefore  I  fear  lest  mayhap,  when 
another  is  set  up  to  preach  this  day  in  Master  Knox's 
stead,  —  which  they  intend  to  do,  —  it  be  so  ill  taken 
that  we  come  to  shameful  disturbance.  Therefore, 
lest  there  should  be  happening  of  such,  I  have 
thought  good  to  make  you  privy  to  our  state." 

"  Eight,  Master  Whittingham  !  A  pious  hell  would 
be  a  bad  example  to  the  people  of  Frankfort ;  who 


CH.  V.J       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        103 

have  been  bred  to  the  notion  —  poor  simple  souls !  — 
that  a  church  should  be  something  like  heaven. 
Go  your  way,  Master  "Whittingham !  You  shall 
have  no  sermon  at  all,  this  day.  I  shall  give  such 
commandment,  and  shall  take  other  measures  to  end 
your  wranglings." 

The  good  Senator  did  his  best.  He  immediately 
ordered  a  conference  of  the  two  parties  by  a  com 
mittee  of  each;  Cox  and  Lever  for  the  one  side, 
Whittingham  and  Knox  for  the  other,  with  Master 
Yaleran  —  at  whose  house  they  met  —  for  their  mod 
erator  and  scribe ;  the  magistrate  conjuring  them  to 
devise  some  good  order  upon  which  they  could  agree, 
and  commanding  them  to  report  the  same  to  him. 
But  "You  shall"  and  "You  sha'  n't,"  "I  will"  and 
"I  won't,"  from  Doctor  Cox,  broke  up  the  confer 


ence.1 


The  aggrieved  party  then  sent  a  memorial  to  the 
Senate,  complaining  of  the  violation  of  their  cove 
nant  and  liberty;  urging,  with  prophetic  accuracy, 
that,  if  this  was  connived  at  or  suffered  by  the  mag 
istrates,  the  controversy  would  be  perpetuated  in 
England;  and  petitioning  that  they  would  decree 
an  arbitration  of  the  whole  matter  by  the  referees 
named  in  the  agreement  of  the  6th  of  February. 

This  brought  Master  Glawberge  before  the  con 
gregation  on  the  next  day,  —  the  22d.  "  Adopt  the 
doctrine  and  ceremonies  of  the  French  church,"  said 
he,  "  or  quit  the  city.  Consult  together  ;  take  your 
choice ;  and  give  me  your  answer  before  you  dis 
perse." 

Driven  to  this  extremity,  Doctor  Cox  announced 

1  Page  40  of  the  Discours,  and  page  11  of  the  Introduction. 


104        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [Cn.  V. 

to  the  congregation  that  he  had  discovered  a  Liturgy 
besides  the  English  one  which  was  orthodox  and 
sufferable  !  "  I  have  read  the  French  order,"  said 
he,  "  and  consider  it  good  and  godly  in  all  points.  I 
move  its  adoption." 

Whereupon  the  whole  congregation  gave  consent ; 
which  was  immediately  reported,  by  a  committee,  to 
Master  Glawberge,  who  was  in  waiting.  Cox,  one  of 
the  committee,  was  all  smiles,  deference,  and  repent 
ance.  "  We  confess,  Master  Glawberge,"  said  he, 
"that  our  behavior  hath  been  ill.  We  pray  for 
giveness  ;  and  that  you  continue  to  show  us  your 
accustomed  favor  and  goodness." 

This  the  magistrate  gently  and  lovingly  promised ; 
fancying,  good  man,  —  for  Doctor  Cox  had  thrown 
dust  in  his  eyes,  —  that  the  troublesome  disturbance 
was  over.  Not  so.  The  Coxian  party  were  as 
resolute  to  establish  the  English  Liturgy  as  before. 
Their  bland  assent  to  the  French  order  was  a  feint 
to  cover  their  purpose ; 1  the  greatest  obstacle  to 
which  was  —  the  reputation  and  influence  of  Master 
John  Knox. 

In  those  days,  kings  and  queens  were  very  sen 
sitive  ;  very  jealous  of  their  authority,  —  so  jealous  as 
to  fancy  a  spectre  on  every  bush,  —  or  treason  in  a 
thousand  cases  where  was  no  treason  at  all.  A  word, 
a  look,  a  bit  of  mystery,  would  excite  suspicion. 
To  be  suspected  was  to  be  a  traitor ;  and  then 
hanging  or  beheading  came  with  little  ado,  —  per 
chance  with  none.  Of  course,  a  death-warrant  trod 
close  on  the  heels  of  a,  plausible  accusation.  The  two 

1  Discours,  p.  49.     Compare  McCrie,  104. 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        105 

might  almost  be  said  to  enter  a  man's  door  together ; 
and  to  walk  out  with  him  to  the  scaffold  in  a  twink 
ling.  We  may  imagine,  therefore,  the  fright  of 
Master  Whittingham  before  the  magistrates,  on  the 
morning  after  Master  Glawberge's  visit  at  the  Eng 
lish  chapel. 

"Master  John  Knox  is  a  minister  in  your  con 
gregation  :  what  manner  of  man  is  he  ? " 

"In  troth,  a  learned,  wise,  grave,  godly,  sirs." 

"  Ay !   say  you  so  ?  " 

"  Verily,  your  worships ;  and  of  my  knowledge." 

fi  So  say  not  some  of  your  countrymen.  You  speak 
upon  knowledge?" 

"  The  knowledge  of  years." 

"Well,  well,  Master  Whittingham,  we  have  held 
the  like  mind  ourselves.  Nevertheless,  we  may  not 
shut  our  ears  to  contrary  complaints.  Here  is  a 
book,  sir,"  —  passing  it  into  his  hands.  "  It  hath  been 
brought  to  us  by  certain  of  your  countrymen.  You 
see  it  is  in  the  English  tongue.  Translate  to  us 
the  title-page ;  —  we  see  Master  Knox's  name  there." 

"'An  Admonition  of  Christians  concerning  the 
Present  Troubles  of  England/  It  is,  sirs,  a  sermon 
preached  by  Master  Knox  in  Buckinghamshire,  a 
county  of  England,  in  the  beginning  of  Queen 
Mary's  reign." 

"  In  England !     How  came  it  here  ?  " 

"  It  seemeth  they  who  produced  it  to  your  wor 
ships  should  best  know." 

"  It  is  a  novel  thing  for  magistrates  in  Germany 
to  sit  in  judgment  on  a  discourse  spoken  in  England. 
Howbeit,  here  it  is ;  and  we  cannot  dismiss  it.  Your 
countrymen  of  whom  we  just  spake  have  accused 

VOL.   I.  14 


106        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FKANKFORT.       [Cn.  V. 

Master  Knox  before  us,  and  in  nine  separate  arti 
cles,  of  high  treason  against  the  Emperor.  A  serious 
charge,  worthy  sir,  which  by  our  allegiance  and  our 
office  we  are  bound  to  examine.  They  say  this  book 
doth  contain  proofs  of  it,  in  certain  places  which 
they  have  marked.  We  do  not  understand  the 
English  tongue  enough  to  judge  with  certainty 
whether  those  passages  are  proofs  or  not.  We  com 
mand  you,  therefore,  to  take  the  book  to  your  house, 
and  to  bring  to  us,  at  one  of  the  clock  this  afternoon, 
a  translation  of  them  in  Latin.  And  we  also  charge 
you,  on  your  peril,  that  you  do  therein  convey  the 
true  and  perfect  sense  of  the  English  words.  We 
repeat  it,  sir :  fail  not,  at  your  peril,  to  give  the 
true  and  perfect  sense." 

Poor  Whittingham!  The  book  weighed  in  his 
hand  like  a  millstone ;  for  he  perceived  at  a  glance 
that  there  was  treason  enough  in  it,  according  to 
the  construction  of  imperial  courts.  What  with  his 
sense  of  Knox's  jeopardy,  and  his  horror  at  so 
atrocious  a  conspiracy  "  to  despatch  him  out  of  the 
way,"  because  the  complainants  "were  offended  at 
his  sermon,"  l  and  "  for  no  other  end  than  that  they 
might  with  more  ease  attain  the  thing  which  they 
so  greedily  sought,  —  the  use  of  the  English  Book,"  2 
—  he  went  his  way  in  great  distress.  Besides,  there 
was  his  own  dilemma,  —  either  to  become  himself, 
in  the  eye  of  the  law,  an  accomplice  in  treason  if 
he  refused  his  task,  or,  if  he  complied,  to  become  a 
party  in  the  bloody  plot  against  a  guiltless  brother. 

"What  shall  I  do?"  he  asked  in  great  conflict 
of  mind ;  "  what  shall  I  do.  Master  Knox  ?  " 

1  Introduction  to  Discours,  p.  11.  2  Discours,  p.  44. 


Ca  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        107 

0  Your  duty ;  i'  fair,  clerkly  letters  and  honest 
Latin,  at  one  o'  the  clock  preceesly.  Dinna  greet 
like  a  wee  bairn,  or  an  auld  wife !  Tak  to  the 
writing,  man!" 

"  But  they  are  terrible  words ;  these  most  of  all," 
—  and  he  read :  " '  0  England,  England,  if  thou 
wilt  obstinately  return  into  Egypt,  that  is,  if  thou 
contract  marriage,  confederacy,  or  league  with  such 
princes  as  do  maintain  and  advance  idolatry,  such 
as  the  Emperor,  (who  is  no  less  enemy  to  Christ 
than  was  Nero,)  if  for  the  pleasure  and  friendship 
(I  say)  of  such  princes  thou  return  to  thine  old 
abominations  before  used  under  Papistry :  then  as 
suredly  (0  England)  thou  shalt  be  plagued  and 
brought  to  desolation  by  the  means  of  those  whose 
favor  thou  seekest,  and  by  whom  thou  art  procured 
to  fall  from  Christ  and  serve  Antichrist/  An  these 
words  come  to  judgment,  Master  Knox,  your  life 
be  not  worth  a  straw." 

"  Sae  do  I  count  it,  i'  the  wark  o'  Him  wha  gied 
his  life  for  John  Knox  and  a'  the  household  o'  faith ; 
and  sae  I  tauld  Master  Isaack  o'  Kent  threatening 
this  same  thing." 

"  Master  Isaack  !  and  threatened  this  !  When  ? 
Where  ?  " 

"  Nay,  not  this  thing  preceesly.  But  I  ken,  now, 
he  meant  it.  It  was  when  you  and  I,  and  Doctor 
Cox,  and  Master  Lever,  did  confer  at  Master  Valeran's 
house  at  command  o'  Master  Glawberge.  Master 
Isaack  cometh  to  my  house,  and  moveth  me  privily 
to  cool  my  earnestness  anent  the  English  Buke.  To 
the  whilk  I  did  mak  answer,  that  my  misliking  wad 
na  cool  nor  keep  silence.  Anon,  he  did  assay  to 


108        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.       [Cn.  V. 

wheedle  wi'  fair  speech,  promising  favor  and  profit 
an  I  wad  relent.  After  whilk,  seeing  he  could  na 
bribe,  he  did  fa'  to  muckle  threatening.  Thereupon 
I  makkit  answer,  that  I  wad  wish  my  name  to  perish, 
an  by  that  means  God's  Buke  and  God's  glory  might 
anely  be  seekit  and  prevail.  Whereat  he  did  gang 
awa  i'  muckle  wrath;  whilk  was  na  the  hail  inatr 
ter." 

"Make  a  clean  breast,  Master  Knox,  of  this 
strange  affair,  I  beseech  you,"  said  Whittingham 
in  amazement.  "  I  would  fain  know  the  whole." 

"  By  counsel  o'  certain  priests,  some  plot  was  put 
thegither  to  cast  me  into  prison ;  and,  understanding 
it,  he  did  declare  that  he  ken'd  weel  I  could  na 
escape  it.  This  maun  be  the  plot;  and  he  is  mine 
accuser,  —  he  and  Master  Parry." 

"What  priests?" 

"  Doctor  Cox,  —  not  able  to  endure  a  baffle  fra'  sae 
mean  a  fellow  as  mysel,1  —  Doctor  Bale,  Master  Tur 
ner,  and  Master  Jewell.2  They  did  bethink  themsels, 
I  ween,  o'  the  cry  o'  the  auld  Pharisees,  —  'This 
man  be  not  Caesar's  friend';  and  sae  they  accuse  me 
o'  treason;  albeit  they  love  the  Emperor  na  mair 
than  the  auld  double-faced  Jews  loved  Caesar."3 

"Horrible  !  "  exclaimed  Master  Whittingham. 
"But  why  have  you  not  made  this  known?" 

"You  are  the  first  to  tell  me  they  ha'  done  it. 
I  ken'd  anely  a  plot  o'  some  kind,  and  wha  were  the 
advisers,  and  wha  wad  do  the  wark.  I  did  na  think 
they  wad  ha  heart  to  do  sic  things ;  sae  I  held  my 
peace." 

1  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  I.  Sec.  18.  3  Introduction    to    Discours,   pp. 

2  Strype's  Memorials,  V.  406.  11,  12. 


CH.  V.]       THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        109 

"  You  did  wrong.  You  ought  to  take  care  for 
your  safety." 

"I  dinna  ken;  I  dinna  ken.  While  I  was  na 
sure  what  thing  they  wad  do,  nor  sure  they  wad 
do  anything,  I  wad  na  expose  their  wicked  schem- 
ings.  It  wad  ha'  been  a  needless  reproach  to  the 
name  o'  Christ.1  Now,  man,  put  John  Knox's  words 
to  Latin.  Write  and  gang  awa'." 

"You  had  better  go  away  yourself,"  exclaimed 
Whittingham,  catching  suddenly  at  Knox's  words. 

"Nay,  John  Knox  will  na  rin  frae  barkin'  dogs. 
The  interpretation  thereof  wad  be,  '  Cowardly  and 
guilty ' ;  baith  o'  whilk  be  false." 

"Will  you  walk  into  the  lion's  den?" 

"I  am  i'  the  hand  o'  the  Lord.  Let  Him  do  wi' 
me  as  he  please." 

When  Whittingham  presented  his  translation,2  the 
magistrates  directed  that  Knox  should  desist  from 
preaching,  until  their  further  pleasure ;  in  which  he 
quietly  acquiesced.  He  attended  worship,  however, 
the  next  day.  But  no  sooner  did  his  accusers  see 
him  there,  than  they  left  the  congregation,  declaring 
vehemently  that  they  would  not  stay  where  he 
was.3 

When  the  services  were  concluded,  Whittingham 
and  Williams  were  summoned  before  the  magistrates, 
and  informed  that  the  enemies  of  Master  Knox  had 
just  shown  such  impatience  for  his  swift  prosecution, 
that  there  was  reason  to  fear  they  would  transfer 

1  Introduction  to    Discours,    pp.         3  Me Crie,  105,  note,  cites  Calder- 
11,  12.  wood  MS.,  I.  255. 

2  Discours,  44. 


110        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.       [Cn.  V. 

the  complaint  to  the  Emperor's  Council,  then  at 
Augsburg ;  that,  should  such  a  step  be  taken,  Mas 
ter  Knox  must  be  delivered  up  either  to  the  Coun 
cil  or  to  Queen  Mary,1  with  small  chance  of  life ; 
and  that  the  magistrates  revolted  at  being  concerned 
in  a  proceeding  so  "  bloody,  cruel,  and  outrageous.'* 
They  therefore  privily  requested  Williams  and  Whit- 
tingham  to  urge  Master  Knox's  voluntary  and  quiet 2 
departure  from  their  jurisdiction.  This,  although 
privately  and  kindly  done,  was  equivalent  to  an 
order  which  ought  to  be  obeyed ;  and  to  an  honor 
able  discharge,  by  which  he  was  willing  to  profit. 

On  the  evening  of  the  25th,  about  fifty  of  his 
devoted  friends  gathered  at  his  house,  when  he 
comforted  them  by  preaching  of  the  future  bless 
ings  secured  for  his  people  by  the  death  and  resur 
rection  of 'their  Lord.  The  next  day  he  took  his 
departure  for  Geneva,  accompanied  a  few  miles  by 
some  of  his  friends,  who  there  took  leave  of  him, 
"  committing  him  to  the  Lorde  with  great  heavinesse 
off  harte  and  plentie  off  teares."  3 

"  My  good  brother ! "  said  Master  Yaleran  at  pari> 
ing,  "put  in  your  heart  one  mite  of  charity  for 
Doctor  Cox.  It  will  work  like  as  the  woman's  little 
leaven  in  her  mess  of  meal.  You  know  he  did  love 
King  Edward  much,  for  he  did  teach  him  when  a 
little  boy-prince.  What  wonder  if  he  say  in  his  much 
fond  love,  'My  dear  king,  when  he  bid  good  by 
for  heaven,  did  not  need  the  Book  for  praying  there, 
so  he  did  leave  it  for  a  memory  of  himself  So 
Doctor  Cox  love  it  much  for  King  Edward's  sake. 

1  McCrie,  106.  8  Discours,  45.    McCrie,  121, 125. 

2  Ibid. 


CH.  V.]      THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        HI 

"  But  that  is  not  all.  Think  of  the  owl  to  whom 
the  eagle  did  promise  not  to  eat  her  children.  She 
did  tell  him  that  he  would  know  them  to  be  of  her 
by  their  pretty  faces  and  sweet  voices.  Well,  one 
day  he  did  find  them.  They  did  look  so  ugly  and 
screech  so,  that  he  did  say,  'Sure  these  are  not 
her  children,'  and  ate  them  all  up.  It  was  a  mistake 
of  the  mother ;  and  she  did  mistake  because  she  was 
the  mother.  Just  so  men  fathers  and  men  mothers 
do  mistake  of  their  children.  Now  that  which  makes 
us  think  too  much  of  the  child  of  the  body,  makes 
us  think  too  much  of  the  child  of  the  brain.  What 
is  it  ?  It  is  one  law  of  Nature,  —  to  the  owl,  to  the 
woman,  to  the  man,  to  you,  to  the  Doctor.  Now 
the  Book  is  in  some  sort  a  child  of  his  brain,  for 
he  did  help  make  it.  What  wonder,  then,  if  he 
make  so  big  mistake,  poor  father  man,  as  the  mother 
owl  did  make  ?  What  wonder  if  he  blame  the  hon 
est  Scot  eagle  ?  Good  by  !  God  be  with  you  ! " l 

Thus,  although  neither  his  imprisonment  nor  his 
blood  was  on  their  hands,  the  partisans  of  the  Eng- 


1  I  have  here  brought  to  view,  in  them !  I  know  there  be  white 

which  I  ought  to  do,  what  I  con-  teeth  in  the  blackest  Black-moor; 

ceive  to  have  been  a  secret  spring  and  a  black  bill  in  the  whitest  Swan, 

of  the  wrong  conduct  of  a  good  Worst  men  have  something  to  be 

man;  and  the  only  apology  of  which  commended;  best  men,  something 

his  case  admits.  in  them  to  be  condemned.  Only  to 

There  is  a  choice  aphorism  of  Ful-  insist  on  men's  faults,  to  render 

ler's,  pregnant  with  instruction  and  them  odious,  is  no  ingenious  "  —  sic 

beautiful  in  spirit,  which  I  cannot  — "  employment.  God,  we  know, 

help  transcribing  here,  because  it  is  so  useth  his  fan,  that  he  keepeth 

in  point :  "  What  a  monster  might  the  corn,  but  driveth  away  the  chaff, 

be  made  out  of  the  best  beauties  in  But  who  is  he  that  winnoweth  so  as 

the  world,  if  a  limner  should  leave  to  throw  away  the  good  grain,  and 

what  is  lovely,  and  only  collect  into  retain  the  chaff  only  ?  "  —  Eccles. 

one  picture  what  he  findeth  amiss  History,  Bk.  X.  pp.  27,  28. 


112        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [On.  V. 

lish  Liturgy  were  rid  of  Master  Knox.  They  had 
the  field  clear  for  intrigue,  and  plied  certain  secret 
practices  with  so  much  art  as  to  entangle  Master 
Glawberge  himself  in  their  toils.  Much  to  his 
astonishment,  he  found  himself  committed  —  by  the 
pledges  of  a  kinsman  who  acted  as  his  proxy,  and 
"whom  Doctor  Cox  and  the  rest  had  won  unto 
them"  —  to  "unsay"  his  order  for  the  French  ser 
vice,  and  to  permit  them  the  use  of  the  English 
Book.  They  who  were  aggrieved  by  these  proceed 
ings  assayed  "to  join  themselves  to  some  other 
church  " ;  to  prevent  which,  Doctor  Cox  obtained  the 
interference  of  the  civil  authority.  They  remained, 
however,  for  a  while,  and  expostulated  with  the 
others.  But  finding  it  in  vain,  and  that,  by  means 
of  "  scoffs  and  taunts,"  their  condition  was  becoming 
intolerable,  they  took  their  departure;  some  for 
Basil  and  some  for  Geneva. 

David  Whitehead  was  then  chosen  pastor  of  the 
church  remaining ; l  who  soon  fell  into  long  and  sad 
dissensions,  which  resulted  in  another  rupture.2 


1  Fuller,  Bk.  VHL  p.  31.  Crie,    104,   refers    to    Calderwood 

2  "  Upon  his  return  to  Geneva,  MS.,  I.  254. 

Knox  committed  to  writing  a  narra-  What  a  strange  representation  of 

tive   of  the   causes  of  his   retiring  this  affair  is  that  given  by  Burnet 

from  Frankfort.     This  he  intended     (II.  528)  !     "  Dr.  Cox, being 

to  publish  in  his  own  defence  ;  but,  a  man  of  great  reputation,  procured 

on  mature  deliberation,  resolved  to  an  order  from  the  Senate  that  the 

suppress  it,   and  to  leave  his  own  English  forms  should  only  be  used 

character  to  suffer,  rather  than  ex-    in  their  church Knox,  be- 

pose  his  brethren  and  the  common  ing  a  man  of  hot  temper,  engaged 

cause.       His    narrative    was    pre-  in  this  matter  very  warmly;    and 

served  by  Calderwood.     It  contains  got  his  friend  Calvin  to  write  some- 

the  names  of  the  persons  who  ac-  what  sharply  of  some  things  in  the 

cused  him  to  the  Senate  of  Frank-  English  service.     This  made  Knox 

fort,  and  of  their  advisers."  —  Me-  and  his  party  leave  Frankfort  and 


CH.  V.I      THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        113 

We  have  thus  passed  in  review  the  opening  acts 
of  a  long  and  eventful  drama,  —  the  first  conten 
tion,  and  the  first  breach,  in  the  English  Keformed 
Church;  giving  to  our  recitation  the  more  minute 
ness,  because  each  incident  and  change  of  scene 
sheds  its  own  separate  light  upon  the  aims  and 
principles  of  the  actors. 

In  some  strong  points,  the  affair  with  Hooper  and 
that  at  Frankfort  were  alike.  Hooper  objected  to  a 
robe;  Knox,  to  a  book.  The  scaffold  was  planned 
for  Hooper;  and  the  scaffold  for  Knox.  Hooper 
was  forbidden  to  serve  God  without  a  bishopric ; 
Knox  and  his  friends,  to  worship  God  without  a 
liturgy.  But  here  the  parallel  ends.  Cranmer 
pleaded  the  law  of  the  realm;  Cox  had  no  law  to 
plead.  Cranmer  was  inclined  to  yield ;  Cox  scorned 
concession.  Cranmer  was  entangled  in  a  broil ;  Cox 
took  a  journey  to  make  one.  Cranmer  and  his  bish 
ops  contended  in  open  field ;  Cox  and  his  clique  were 


go  to  Geneva.  Knox  had  also  edit.,  242)  :  "  Knox  held  and  pub- 
written  indecently  of  the  Emperor,  lished  some  dangerous  principles 
which  obliged  the  Senate  of  Frank-  about  government,  which  were  so 
fort  to  require  him  to  be  gone  out  disliked  by  the  chief  of  the  English 
of  their  bounds."  One  does  not  divines  there,  as  Cox,  Bale,  Turner 
like  to  trust  himself  in  making  com-  of  Windsor,  Jewell,  and  others,  that 
ment  on  such  a  statement.  I  am  they  thought  it  fit,  and  that  for 
inclined  to  think,  however,  that  tlieir  own  security,  to  disown  him 
Burnet  may  have  been  innocent  of  publicly,  not  only  by  discharging 
intentional  misrepresentation ;  for  him  from  the  ministry,  but  also  by 
his  works  show  that  he  was  not  a  making  open  complaint  against  him 
man  remarkably  profound  or  clear-  to  the  magistrates.  And  so  Mr. 
headed ;  whereas  the  "  Discours "  Isaack  and  Parry  brought  in  writ- 
is,  perhaps,  of  all  narrative  composi-  ing  several  passages,"  &c.  And 
tions  in  the  English  language,  the  this  Strype  writes  after  referring 
most  difficult  to  be  understood.  to  the  book  entitled  "  The  Trou- 
Let  us  also  hear  "  honest  Master  bles  at  Frankfort,"  and  in  the  face 
Strype  "  (Memorials,  V.  406,  folio  of  it ! 

VOL.    I.  15 


114        THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.      [Cn.  V. 

sly  and  perfidious.  Hooper  was  assailed  where  he 
owed,  allegiance;  Knox  and  his  church,  where  they 
owed  none.  In  the  former  case,  there  was  harshness 
to  an  individual ;  in  the  latter,  wrong  to  a  peaceful 
and  thriving  community.  The  former  was  but  one 
among  thousands,  —  natural,  under  the  mixed  au 
thority  of  Church  and  State ;  the  latter,  a  grievous 
fact,  without  authority,  perhaps  without  precedent. 

Thus  rapidly  and  ominously  did  the  genius  of 
civil  ecclesiasticism  unfold  itself  during  the  little 
span  of  time  from  the  death  of  Edward  to  the 
martyrdom  of  Cranmer. 

We  say,  "ominously";  for  at  that  time  it  might 
have  been  fairly  asked,  If  men  in  exile,  in  poverty, 
under  God's  rod  of  discipline,  would  do  unbidden 
and  ruthless  battle  for  a  ritual  abrogated  while  yet 
in  the  greenness  of  its  youth,  what  might  they  not 
do,  should  that  ritual  regain  the  sanction  of  law,  and 
grow  to  a  muscular  manhood?  If,  under  such  cir 
cumstances  of  depression,  they  could  make  onslaught 
upon  brethren,  and  drive  them  from  their  refuge, 
their  livelihood,  and  their  altar,  what  might  not 
they  and  their  disciples  do,  at  home,  in  fulness  of 
bread,  in  towers  of  strength,  on  the  wave  of  pros 
perity,  backed  by  law,  and  stimulated  by  monarchs 
who  would  not  brook  dissent? 

There  is  a  graver,  harder  question.  What,  besides 
the  union  of  Church  and  State,  has  driven  dissen 
tients  in  the  Church  of  England  to  the  wall  ?  The 
plea  in  Hooper's  case  was,  that  the  ritual  was  law. 
The  plea  after  the  Church's  restoration  was,  that 
the  ritual  was  law.  But  at  Frankfort  where  it  was 
not  law,  at  Frankfort  when  it  was  nowhere  law, 


CH.  V.]      THE  TROUBLES  AT  FRANKFORT.        115 

the  pretext  did  not  exist.  There  has  been,  there 
fore,  some  moving  spring  against  dissentients  back 
of  law,  and  for  which  it  has  served  as  a  screen. 
What  was  it? 

But  to  return.  Both  the  controversies  which  we 
have  narrated  were  about  ceremonials.  Both  were 
about  canons  which  assume  the  Testament  of  Christ 
to  be  as  little,  as  symbolic,  as  precise,  as  rigid  in  its 
requisitions,  as  the  Leviticus  of  Moses;  whose  en 
forcement,  based  on  sad  ignorance  of  human  nature, 
and  committed  to  despotic  hands,  has  wrought  more 
convulsions  and  eliminated  more  political  truths 
than  any  other  one  measure  of  secular  despotism. 
We  shall  see  something  of  this  as  we  trace  the 
operation  of  the  English  Liturgy  when  reinstated 
as  law ;  but  only  something,  for  we  propose  to  follow 
it  no  further  than  concerns  the  Anglo-Saxon  settle 
ments  of  the  New  World. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

ACCESSION,  AND  FIRST  PARLIAMENT,  OF  ELIZABETH. 

THE  DEATH  OF  MARY.  —  ELIZABETH  PROCLAIMED.  —  HER  ADDRESS  TO  THE 
COUNCIL.  —  HER  FIRST  CABINET.  —  HER  PERSON.  —  HER  PUBLIC  COURTESIES. 

—  THE   FUNERAL   SERMON.  —  INDICATIONS  OF  A    CHANGE   OF    RELIGION. — 
PARLIAMENT  ASSEMBLE.  —  THE  LORD  KEEPER'S  SPEECH.  —  SPEAKER  OF  THE 
COMMONS  ELECTED ;  "DISABLED";   "ALLOWED."  —  POSITION  OF  THE  CROWN. 

—  THE  COMMONS  PETITION  THE  QUEEN  TO  MARRY.  —  HER  ANSWER.  —  THE 
ACT  OF  SUPREMACY.  —  THE  ACT  OF  UNIFORMITY. 

1558-9. 

MARY  had  worn  the  crown  of  England  five  years 
and  five  months.1  In  that  brief  time,  she  had  dis 
graced  her  government  by  losing  the  key  to  France, 
which  had  hung  at  the  royal  girdle  more  than  two 
hundred  years ;  she  had  exhausted  her  treasury  and 
extorted  enormous  loans  from  her  subjects ;  she  had 
doated  on  her  husband,  and  been  stung  in  her  soul 
by  his  coldness;  she  had  made  herself  ridiculous 
by  public  thanks  to  God  for  a  visionary  heir;  had 
been  lampooned  for  her  credulity  ;  had  sunk  under 
disappointment,  peevishness,  marital  neglect,  and 
disease;  and  now  lay  moaning  upon  her  bed  with 
"  Calais  in  her  heart," 2  knowing  that  her  husband 

1  Cecil,  in  Murdin,  747.  said)  that  she  tooke  some  thought 

2  Just    before    her    death,    "  hir  for  the  king's  majestic  hir  husband, 
councell  seeing  hir  sighing,  and  de-  which  was  gone  from  hir.     In  deed 
sirous  to  know  the  cause,  to  the  end  (said  she)  that  maie  be  one  cause, 
they  might  minister  the  more  readie  but  that  is  not  the  greatest  wound 
consolation  vnto  hir,  feared  (as  they  that  pearseth  mine  oppressed  mind : 


CH.  VI]  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  117 

had  no  intent  to  return,  that  she  was  hated  of  her 
subjects,  that  she  was  about  to  die.1 

Nor  was  this  all  of  melancholy  which  had  marked 
her  reign.  Nearly  three  hundred  Protestants,  fifty- 
five  of  whom  were  of  her  own  sex,  had  been  burned 
alive  for  their  religion  •  and  about  a  hundred  more 
had  been  put  to  death,  on  the  same  account,  by  im 
prisonment,  torture,  and  starvation.2 

In  view  of  her  approaching  decease,  Mary  sent  the 
following  message,  by  two  of  her  Council,  to  her 
sister  Elizabeth :  "  My  sickness  lieth  sore  upon  me, 
and  hath  brought  me  to  the  gates  of  death.  It  is 
my  intent  to  bequeath  to  you  my  crown.  In  con 
sideration  of  so  great  a  favor,  pledge  me  that  you 
will  make  no  change  in  the  Privy  Council,  and  none 
in  religion,  and  that  you  will  honorably  cancel  my 
debts." 

"Tell  the  queen,"  replied  Elizabeth,  "that  I  am 
very  sorry  to  hear  of  her  Highness's  malady;  but 
that  there  is  no  reason  why  I  should  thank  her  for 
her  intention  to  give  me  the  crown  of  this  kingdom. 
She  hath  neither  the  power  of  bestowing  it  upon 
me,  nor  can  I  lawfully  be  deprived  of  it,  since  it  is 
my  peculiar  and  hereditary  right.  With  respect  to 


but  what  that  was,  she  would  not  (said  she)  but  when  I  am  dead  and 
expresse  to  them.  Albeit  afterward  opened,  you  shall  find  Calis  lie- 
she  opened  the  matter  more  plain-  ing  in  my  hart."  —  Holingshed,  IV. 
lie  to  mistresse  Rise  and  mistresse  137. 

Clarentius  (if  it  be  true  that  they  l  Hume,  IT.  534,  546,  560. 
told  me,  which  heard  it  of  mistresse  2  Fox,  HE.  760.  Cecil's  Journal ; 
Rise  hirselfe),  who  then  being  most  Murdin,  746,  747.  Burl eigh's  "  Ex- 
familiar  with  hir,  and  most  bold  ecution  of  Justice,"  in  Harleian 
about  hir,  told  hir  that  they  feared  Miscellany,  II.  131.  Harl.  Misc.,  I. 
she  tooke  thought  for  king  Philips  209.  D'Ewes,  1.  Rapin,  H.  48, 
departing  from  hir.  Not  that  onelie  note. 


118         THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.      [Cn.  VI. 

the  Council,  I  think  myself  as  much  at  liberty  to 
choose  my  counsellors  as  was  she  to  choose  her  own. 
As  to  religion,  I  promise  thus  much,  that  I  will 
not  change  it,  provided  only  it  can  be  proved  by  the 
Word  of  God,  which  shall  be  the  only  foundation 
and  rule  of  my  religion.  And  when,  lastly,  she 
requireth  the  payment  of  her  debts,  she  seemeth  to 
me  to  require  nothing  more  than  what  is  just ;  and 
I  will  take  care  that  they  shall  be  paid,  as  far  as  may 
lie  in  my  power."  l 

Mary's  last  Parliament  assembled  on  the  5th  of 
November,  1558.2  About  nine  o'clock  in  the  fore 
noon  of  the  17th,3  the  Lords  received  information 
that  the  queen  had  died  at  an  early  hour  of  the 
morning.4  They  immediately  sent  a  message  to  the 
Commons  requiring  their  immediate  attendance  in 
the  Upper  House,  to  receive  a  communication  of 
great  importance.5  Upon  their  appearance,  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Heath  —  who  was  also  Archbishop  of  York 
—  announced  to  them  the  death  of  the  queen.  "  But 
God  of  his  mercy,"  said  he,  "  hath  preserved  to  us 
the  Lady  Elizabeth,  whose  title  to  the  crown  none 
can,  none  ought  to  doubt.  Inasmuch,  therefore,  as 
you,  knights,  citizens,  and  burgesses  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  have  been  elected  to  represent  the  com 
mon  people  of  the  realm,  you  can  in  no  wise  better 
discharge  your  trust,  than  by  joining  the  prelates 
and  peers  here  assembled  in  publishing  the  next 
successor  to  the  crown.  And  inasmuch  as  the  Lords 


1  Zurich  Letters,  No.  HI.  p.  4  ;  4  "  3  or   4  o'clock,"  Holingshed, 
Sandys  to  Bullinger,  Dec.  20,  1 558.  IV.  1 3  7.    "  Between  5  and  6  o'clock," 

2  Echard,  768.  Holingshed,  IV.  121,  759. 

3  Ibid.,  787.  5  Hayward,  3.     Camden,  11. 


CH.  VI.]  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  119 

spiritual  and  temporal  have  with  one  mind  and  voice 
so  determined,  we  have  desired  your  presence,  that 
with  joint  consent  the  Lady  Elizabeth  may  by  us 
be  forthwith  proclaimed  Queen."  Instantly  upon 
these  words,  it  "  was  cried  and  re-cried  from  all 
sides,"  "  God  save  the  Queen  Elizabeth  !  God  save 
the  Queen !  Long  may  she  reign,  —  happily  and 
long ! " l 

As  the  death  of  a  sovereign  dissolved  a  Parlia 
ment,2  —  and  this  continued  to  be  the  case  until 
1696,  —  the  Lords  and  Commons  immediately  dis 
persed,  and  before  noon 3  proclaimed  Elizabeth,  from 
the  palace  at  Westminster  and  afterwards  from  the 
Cross  in  Cheapside,  "  Queen  of  England,  France,  and 
Ireland,  and  Defendrix  of  the  Faith."  The  people 
shouted  as  had  the  Parliament,  but  with  a  heartier 
joy ;  for  the  prelates,  the  nobility,  and  most  of  the 
Commons  were  only  loyal  Catholics,  while  the  people 
were  mostly  Protestants,  terror-stricken  by  the  late 
atrocities,  and  hoping  for  common  humanity  under 
a  princess  reputed  to  be  of  their  own  religion. 
None  but  the  priests  mourned.4 

A  deputation  of  the  Council  was  immediately  sent 
to  Hatfield,  where  the  princess  Elizabeth — long  under 
restraint  and  espionage  —  had  quietly  applied  herself 
to  reading  and  study.5  "My  lords,"  said  she,  after 
listening  to  their  congratulatory  address,  "the  law 
of  nature  moveth  me  to  sorrow  for  my  sister.  The 
burden  that  is  fallen  upon  me  maketh  me  amazed 6 ; 

1  Holingshed,  IV.  155.     Echard,  Camden,  12.    Stow's  Preface.   War- 
787.  ner,  II.  405.     Burnet,  II.  578.    Lin- 

2  Holingshed,  ib.     Echard,  786.  gard,  VII.  250. 

3  Holingshed,  ib.  '6  Echard,  785,  788. 

4  Echard,    787.        Hay  ward,    3.  6  Perplexed. 


120  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  [Cn.  VI. 

and  yet,  considering'  I  am  God's  creature,  ordained 
to  obey  his  appointment,  I  will  thereto  yield,  re 
quiring  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  that  I  may 
have  assistance  of  his  grace  to  be  the  minister 
of  his  heavenly  will  in  this  office  now  committed 
to  me.  And,  as  I  am  but  one  body,  naturally 
considered,  —  though  by  his  permission  a  body  pol 
itic  to  govern,  —  so  I  shall  require  you  all,  my 
lords,  —  chiefly  you  of  the  nobility,  every  one  in  his 
degree  and  power,  —  to  be  assistant  to  me  ;  that  I 
with  my  ruling,  and  you  with  your  service,  may 
make  a  good  account  to  Almighty  God,  and  leave 
some  comfort  to  our  posterity  in  earth.  I  mean  to 
direct  all  mine  actions  by  good  advice  and  counsel ; 
and  therefore,  at  this  present,  considering  that  divers 
of  you  be  of  the  ancient  nobility,  having  your  be 
ginning  and  estates  of  my  progenitors,  kings  of  this 
realm,  and  thereby  ought  in  honor  to  have  the 
more  natural  care  for  the  maintaining  of  my  estate 
and  this  commonwealth,"  —  and  that  "  some  others 
have  been  of  long  experience  in  governance,  and 
enabled,  by  my  father  of  noble  memory,  my  brother, 
and  my  late  sister,  to  bear  office,"  —  and  that  "the 
rest  of  you  being  upon  special  trust  for  your  service 
considered  and  rewarded, —  my  meaning  is  to  require 
of  you  all,  nothing  more  but  faithful  hearts  in  such 
service  as  from  time  to  time  shall  be  in  your  powers 
towards  the  preservation  of  me  and  this  common 
wealth.  And  for  counsel  and  advice,  I  shall  accept 
you  of  my  nobility,  and  such  other  of  you  the  rest, 
as  in  consultation  I  shall  think  meet,  and  shortly 
appoint ;  to  the  which,  also,  with  their  advice,  I  will 
join  to  their  aid,  and  for  the  ease  of  their  burden, 


CH.  VI.]  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  121 

others  meet  for  my  service.  And  they  which  I  shall 
not  appoint,  let  them  not  think  the  same  for  any 
disability  in  them,  but  for  that  I  consider  a  multitude 
doth  make  rather  disorder  and  confusion  than  good 
counsel ;  and  of  my  good  will  you  shall  not  doubt, 
using  yourselves  as  appertaineth  to  good  and  loving 
subjects." ] 

Elizabeth  had  already  received  an  advisory  note 
from  Sir  William  Cecil,  who  had  been  her  brother 
Edward's  Secretary  of  State,  in  which  he  had  proposed 
that  prudential  policy  in  the  selection  of  her  Council 
which  is  intimated  in  the  above  address,  and  which 
she  immediately  adopted.2  Her  sister's  Council  were 
nominally  Catholics  ;  a  very  few  of  them,  really  so  ; 
the  rest  had  veered  in  their  religion  as  the  wind 
from  the  Court  had  set.3  Elizabeth  retained  them 
all  for  a  while,4  though  she  soon  reduced  their 
number  to  eleven,5  adding  eight  who  were  known 
Protestants.  One  of  these  was  Cecil,  "  an  exceed 
ing  wise  man,  and  as  good  as  many,"6  whom  she 
also  made  immediately 7  her  Secretary  of  State ; 
another,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  whom  she  created  Lord 
Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  under  which  title  he  had 

1  Nugae  Antiquae,  I.  67.  have  been  spoken  to  the  Lords  in 

It   is   intimated,  in   Harrington's  general  at  the  Charter  House,  where 

Nugae   Antique,  that  this  address  she    stayed    "  many    dayes,"    says 

was    delivered    in    the    House    of  Stow. 

Lords  after  the  assembling  of  Par-  2  Lloyd,   473.      Burnet,   H.  277. 

liament  in  January.      But  there  is  Lingard,  VH.  251. 

evidence  in  the  address  itself  that  3  Burnet,  II.  581.     Hallam,  72. 

it  was  uttered  by  the  queen  before  4  Hay  ward,    11,    12.       Naunton, 

the  appointment  of  her  Privy  Coun-  189.     Echard,  789. 

cil,  which  was  very  soon  after  her  ac-  5  Zurich  Letters,  p.  5,  note. 

cession.     I  may  be  in  error  in  stating  6  Camden,  13.     Warner,  H.  406. 

that  it  was  uttered  to  the  deputation  7  Naunton,  195.   Strype's  Annals, 

of  Queen  Mary's  Council.     It  may  I.  8. 
VOL.  i.                        16 


122  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  [Cn.  VI. 

also  the  honor  and  authority  of  Chancellor  of  Eng 
land.1 

Elizabeth  was  now  in  the  first  blush  of  woman 
hood, — just  entered  upon  her  twenty-sixth  year. 
Her  complexion  and  hair  were  light ;  her  forehead 
large  and  fair;  her  eyes  lively  and  of  a  pleasing 
expression,  though  short-sighted ;  her  nose,  some 
what  aquiline ;  her  face,  wanting  in  the  regularities 
of  complete  beauty,  yet  oval  and  perfectly  fair,  and 
her  countenance  so  bright  as  covered  smaller  de 
fects  ;  her  stature,  tall ;  her  figure,  slender,  erect,  and 
symmetrical.  To  these  favors,  nature  —  or  rather 
her  own  princely  spirit  —  had  superadded  the  crown 
ing  charm  of  a  serene,  majestic  grace  in  all  her 
movements.  In  everything  she  said  or  did,  this 
majestic  air  inspired  awe  rather  than  love  ;  yet  she 
could  assume  a  fascinating  manner  which  few  could 
resist;  and  her  greatness  and  sweetness  were  so 
blended,  that  all  admired  her.2 


1  Camden,    235.      Echard,    790.  my  private  will,  you  will  give  me 

D'Ewes,  70  bis.  that  counsel  that  you  think  best: 

Cecil  was   sworn   of   the    Privy  and  if  you  shall  know  anything  to 

Council  on  the  20th.    (Strype's  An-  be  declared  to  me  of  secrecy,  you 

nals,  I.,  Introd.  p.  8.)    The  queen's  shall   show  it  to  myself  only,   and 

charge  to  him  upon  that  occasion  —  assure  yourself  I  will  not  fail  to  keep 

probably  the  form  of  injunction  to  taciturnity  therein.     And  therefore 

each  Councillor  as  he  took  his  oath  herewith   I   charge   you."  —  Nugse 

— was  in  these  words  :  —  Antiques,  I.  68. 

"  I  give  you  this  charge,  that  you  Whatever  other  counsellors  may 

shall  be  of  my  Privy  Council,  and  have   done,  most   scrupulously  and 

content  yourself  to  take  pains  for  literally  did  Cecil  observe  this  charge, 

me  and  my  realm.     This  judgment  2  Hay  ward,  7,  who  says,  "of  stat- 

I  have  of  you,  that  you  will  not  be  ure  mean";  i.  e.  of  medium  stature, 

corrupted  with  any  manner  of  gift,  Naunton,  183.     Fuller's  Holy  State, 

and  that  you  will  be  faithful  to  the  318.     Echard,  788. 
state,  and  that,  without  respect  of 


CH.  VI]  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  123 

With  such  personal  attractions,  and  with  the  ad 
vantage  of  a  Protestant  reputation,  notwithstanding 
her  profession  of  Komanism  during  the  tyranny  of 
her  sister,  it  is  no  wonder  that  she  was  hailed  with 
enthusiasm  by  a  people  but  yesterday  trembling 
and  in  sackcloth  under  a  reign  of  terror. 

Nor  was  this  all.  While  royal  in  all  her  port,  she 
was  affable ;  while  stately,  she  could  stoop ;  while 
moving  in  queenly  pomp,  she  could  smile ;  while 
heralded  by  trumpets  and  thronged  by  a  gorgeous 
nobility,  she  could  hear  a  poor  man's  prayer,  cherish 
his  modest  gift,  return  his  greeting,  and  thank  him 
for  his  loyalty  and  love.  Of  her  power  thus  to  win 
the  hearts  of  the  populace,  she  gave  ample  proof 
in  her  progress  from  Hatfield  to  the  Charter  House 
on  the  23d  of  the  month,  the  sixth  day  after  her  sis 
ter's  decease  ; l  and  again,  from  the  Charter  House  to 
the  Tower ;  and  afterwards,  from  the  Tower  to  West- 
minster.  By  her  eyes,  by  her  courtesies,  by  her 
smiles,  by  her  speech,  by  her  benedictions,  by  her 
condescending  kindnesses,  she  proclaimed  to  the 
understanding  of  the  meanest  of  the  thousands  who 
shouted  acclamation,  that  she  was  not  so  much  their 
queen  as  their  protectress,  that  they  were  not  so 
much  her  subjects  as  her  people,  her  charge,  her 
family.  And  as  she  gave  demonstration  upon  dem 
onstration  of  this,  "thereupon  the  people  again 

1  Lodge,  I.   301,    Letter  of   the  field;  stating  it   to  have  been  the 

Lords   of  the    Council.     Historical  19th,  instead  of  the  23d.    Strype,  in 

writers  do  not  agree  about  the  dates  his  Annals,  has  it  right ;  and  gives 

of  the  queen's  movements  previous  also   the  letter  referred  to  in  the 

to  her  coronation.    Burnet,  Echard,  text ;   a  paper  of  paramount  au- 

Speed,  Rapin,  are  all  wrong  about  thority. 
the  tune  of  her  departure  from  Hat- 


124  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  [Cn.  VI. 

redoubled  the  testimonies  of  their  joys." l  To  the 
man  who  had  been  her  jailer,  and  who  had  been  so 
not  without  harshness,  she  now  gave  but  a  pleasant 
jest.  She  received  with  courtesy  the  bishops  under 
whose  administration  she  had  suffered,  and  who  had 
counselled  against  her  life.  Through  these  succes 
sive  progresses,  she  frowned  but  once.  It  was  upon 
Bonner,  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  had  sent  so  many 
Protestants  to  the  stake,  and  had  gloated  over  their 
torments.  His  associates,  she  permitted  to  kiss  her 
hand;  but  she  turned  in  horror  from  him,  as  from 
one  who  was  stained  with  innocent  blood.2 

As  she  entered  the  Tower,  on  the  28th  of  Novem 
ber,3  she  paused ;  and  turning  to  her  attendants,  said 
impressively :  "  Some  have  fallen  from  being  princes 
of  this  land,  to  be  prisoners  in  this  place  ;  I  am  raised 
from  being  prisoner  in  this  place,  to  be  prince  of 
this  land.  That  dejection  was  a  work  of  God's  jus 
tice  ;  this  advancement  is  a  work  of  his  mercy.  As 
they  were  to  yield  patience  for  the  one,  so  I  must 
bear  myself  towards  God  thankful,  and  toward  men 
merciful  and  beneficial,  for  the  other." 4 

On  the  thirteenth  day  of  December,5  Elizabeth 
attended  the  funeral  service  of  her  sister  in  Westmin 
ster  Abbey;  where  "a  black  sermon"  was  preached 
by  White,  Bishop  of  Winchester.  It  was  the  eulogy 
of  a  Catholic  queen  by  a  Catholic  priest  ambitious 
of  martyrdom.  After  lauding  her  high  parentage, 
her  bountiful  disposition,  her  great  gravity,  her  rare 


1  Hayward,  6,   7,  16-18.      Ho-  3Cecil,inMurdin,747.  Speed, 857. 
lingshed,   IV.    159,    175.     Echard,  4  Hay  ward,  11. 

791.  5Holingshed,IV.  158.    Hayward, 

2  Echard,  788.      Burnet,  H.  579.  12.     Cecil,  in  Murdin,  747. 


CH.  VL]  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  125 

devotion,  —  for  she  kneeled  so  much  in  prayer,  he 
said,  that  her  knees  were  calloused,  —  her  justice, 
her  clemency,  her  grievous  but  patient  death,  he 
was  overcome  by  weeping.  At  length  he  recovered, 
saying :  "  Queen  Mary  hath  left  a  sister  to  succeed 
her,  also  a  lady  of  great  worth,  whom  we  are  now 
bound  to  obey,  for  a  living  dog  is  better  than  a 
dead  lion;  and  I  hope  she  shall  reign  well  and 
prosperously  over  us.  But  still  I  must  say,  with  my 
text,  '  I  praised  the  dead  more  than  the  living ' ; 
for  certain  it  is  that  Mary  chose  the  better  part." 

At  the  close  of  the  services,  the  queen,  justly 
irritated  by  his  public  insolence  —  although,  happily, 
his  sermon  was  in  Latin  —  ordered  his  arrest,  and 
confined  him  to  his  house  a  month,  which  was  to 
the  assembling  of  Parliament;1  but,  true  to  her 
present  policy  of  lenity,  she  punished  the  currish 
prelate  only  by  depriving  him,  in  a  few  months,  of 
his  office,  and  disappointing  him  of  the  crown  of 
martyrdom.2 

The  first  decided  indication  of  the  queen's  pur 
poses  regarding  religion  was  given  on  Christmas 
day.  Every  preparation  had  been  made  for  observ 
ing  the  festival  according  to  the  usages  of  the 
Romish  Church.  At  the  time  of  the  morning  ser 
vice  she  repaired  to  her  great  closet,  —  adjoining 
her  chapel,  —  with  her  nobles  and  ladies,  as  was  cus 
tomary  at  such  high  feasts,  where  she  perceived  a 
bishop  preparing  himself  to  say  Mass  after  the  old 
form.  She  remained  until  the  Gospel  was  done, 
and  when  all  looked  for  her  to  have  offered  accord- 

1  Burnet,  H.  586.  Church,  in  Nugae  Antique,  II.  84. 

2  Harrington's  Brief  View  of  the     Zurich  Letters,  p.  16,  and  note  2. 


126  THE  ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH.  [Ca.  VI. 

ing  to  the  old  fashion,  she  suddenly  rose ;  and,  taking 
her  nobles  with  her,  returned  from  the  closet  and 
the  Mass  to  her  privy  chamber;  a  significant  act, 
"  which  was  strange  unto  divers."  l 

The  Protestants,  presuming  upon  her  intentions, 
began,  first  in  private  houses  and  then  in  churches, 
to  preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Keformation,  and  to 
use  the  service-book  of  King  Edward.  The  Romish 
priests  retorted  with  sharpness.  Thus  many  wran 
gling  discourses  began  to  be  put  forth  from  the  pul 
pits,  before  large  and  excited  audiences.  To  prevent 
these  contentions,  the  queen,  by  proclamation  on 
the  27th  of  December,2  forbade  all  preaching,  and  all 
other  religious  service  except  the  Romish,  until  a 
Form  of  Religion  should  be  determined  by  Parlia 
ment  •  for  "  earnest  as  she  was  in  the  cause  of  true 
religion,  and  desirous  as  she  was  of  a  thorough 
change  as  early  as  possible,  she  could  not  be  induced 
to  effect  such  change  without  the  sanction  of  law ; 
lest  the  matter  should  seem  to  have  been  accom 
plished,  not  so  much  by  the  judgment  of  discreet 
men,  as  in  compliance  with  the  impulse  of  a  furious 
multitude."3  The  only  Romish  rite  which  she 
inhibited  was  the  elevation  of  the  host,  or  sacra 
mental  bread ;  at  the  same  time  ordering  that  the 
Gospels,  the  Epistles,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  should  be  recited 
in  the  English,  instead  of  the  Latin  language.4 

1  Fitzwilliam  to  More,  Dec.  26th,        3  Zurich     Letters,     No.     XIII.  ; 
1558  ;  in  Ellis,  2d  Series,  Vol.  II.  p.    Jewel  to  P.  Martyr. 

262.  4  Echard,  790.      Camden,  16,  17. 

2  Cecil,   in  Murdin,    747.     Hay-  Hayward,    13.      Collier,   VI.    200. 
ward,  5.     Camden,  16,  31.     Speed,  Burnet,    II.     585.       Strype's     An- 
857.     Strype's  Annals,  I.  59.  nals,  I.  59,  60,  77.     Hume,  II.  566, 


CH.  VI]  THE  ACCESSION   OF  ELIZABETH.  127 

The  day  on  which  this  proclamation  was  made, 
Thomas  Parrys  was  committed  to  ward  for  permit 
ting  a  religious  assembly  in  Worcester  House,  which 
was  in  his  charge.1  Yet,  in  u  open  private  houses," 
Protestant  worship,  with  preaching  the  Gospel  and 
ministering  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  maintained, 
by  connivance  of  the  magistrates  and  even  of  the 
queen  herself2  During  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary, 
a  single  Protestant  congregation  had  secretly  sus 
tained  the  preaching  and  ordinances  of  the  Gospel, 
choosing  their  ministers  and  deacons ;  though  often 
dispersed  by  their  persecutors,  and  many  of  them 
burned  at  the  stake.3  Immediately  upon  Elizabeth's 
accession,  this  congregation  appeared  openly,  but  in 
private  houses,  —  as  just  stated,  —  and  were  unmo 
lested.  "  Numbers  nocked  to  them " ;  and  they 
whom  the  terrors  of  persecution  had  caused  to  con 
form  to  Popery,  returned  to  the  flock  whence  they 
had  strayed,  confessing  and  asking  forgiveness. 
"Nothing  could  be  more  delightful,"  wrote  an  eye 
witness,  "than  the  mutual  tears  of  all  parties;  on 
the  one  side,  lamenting  their  sins  ;  and  on  the 
other,  congratulating  them  on  their  reconciliation 
and  renewed  communion  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Not  only  were  these  assemblies  thus  maintained 
in  the  houses  of  London  citizens  contrary  to  the 
statutes  in  force,  and  while  "  Masses  were  being  cel 
ebrated  with  the  whole  authority  of  law  and 

of  proclamation,"  but  even  in  some  churches  —  prob- 

567.     Neal,  I.  71,  and  note.     Lin-        3  Zurich    Letters,   No.    XXIX. ; 
gard,  255,  256,  note.  also  No.  CXXX.;   George  Withers 

1  Strype's  Annals,  I.  59.  to    Frederick    m.,    Elector    Pala- 

2  Zurich    Letters,  No.   XXIX. ;     tine. 
Lever  to  Bullinger. 


128          THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH.       [Cn.  VI. 

ably  rural  parishes  —  the  Gospel  was  preached  to 
large  and  eager  assemblies,  whose  "  many  tears  bore 
witness  that  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  more 
effectual  to  true  repentance  than  anything  that  the 
whole  world  can  either  imagine  or  approve."  This 
preaching  was  furnished  at  the  request  of  the  people, 
and  mostly,  if  not  entirely,  by  the  exiles  who  had 
returned  from  Germany.  These  men  "considered 
that  the  silence  imposed"  —  by  the  queen's  procla 
mation —  "for  a  long  and  uncertain  period,  was  not 
agreeable  to  the  command  of  Paul  to  preach  the 
word  of  God  in  season  and  out  of  season." l 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1558-9,2  the  queen  was 
crowned;  and  on  the  25th,  her  first  Parliament 
assembled,3  having  been  prorogued  from  the  23d. 
In  the  House  of  Lords  her  Majesty,  clad  in  her 
imperial  robes,  took  her  seat  in  the  chair  of  state ; 
and  the  bishops  and  temporal  lords  took  their  re 
spective  places,  arrayed  in  their  Parliamentary  robes, 
—  mantles,  hoods,  and  surcoats  of  crimson  or  scarlet 
velvet,  and  furred  with  meniver.  The  knights,  citi 
zens,  and  burgesses  of  the  House  of  Commons,  hav 
ing  been  notified  that  the  queen  and  her  lords  were 
in  readiness  to  receive  them,  forthwith  made  their 
appearance  without  the  bar  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
house.  The  Lord  Keeper,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  im 
mediately  left  his  position  a  little  behind  the  cloth 
of  state,  —  his  proper  seat,  which  was  front  of  the 
throne,  he  never  occupied  when  her  Majesty  was 
present,  —  and  conferred  privately  with  the  queen 

1  Zurich  Letters,  No.  Vm.,  Jewel        2  Cecil,  in  Murdin,  747.      Hay- 
to  P.  Martyr;  No.  XXIX.,  Lever    ward,  18. 
to  Bullinger.  3  D'Ewes,  3,  9. 


CH.  VI]       THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF   ELIZABETH.         129 

for  a  few  moments.  He  then  resumed  his  position, 
and  there  opened  the  Parliament  by  declaring,  in 
her  Majesty's  name  and  behalf,  her  reasons  for  sum 
moning  their  attendance.  They  were  called,  he 
said,  to  make  proper  laws  for  a  uniform  Order  of 
Religion ;  to  reform  evils  in  the  civil  order  of  the 
realm ;  and  to  devise  remedies  for  losses  and  decays 
which  had  happened  of  late  to  the  imperial  crown. 
He  exhorted  them,  in  pursuing  the  first  business, 
"to  fly  from  all  manner  of  contentions,  reasonings, 
and  disputations,  and  from  all  sophistical,  captious, 
and  frivolous  arguments  and  quiddities,  meeter  for 
ostentation  of  wit  than  consultation  of  weighty 
matters,  comelier  for  scholars  than  counsellors,  more 
beseeming  for  schools  than  for  parliament-houses; 
that  no  opprobrious  words  —  as  schismatic,  heretic, 
Papist,  and  such  like  names  —  be  used;  that  they 
should  avoid  anything  which  might  breed  idolatry 
or  superstition  on  the  one  hand,  or  irreligion  on 
the  other " ;  that  in  pursuing  the  second  business, 
"  they  should  consider  whether  any  laws  should  be 
repealed,  and  whether  any  were  too  severe  or  too 
sharp,  or  too  soft  and  too  gentle."  Then,  while 
thanking  God  for  a  princess  "  that  is  not,  nor  ever 
meaneth  to  be,  so  wedded  to  her  own  will,  that, 
for  satisfaction  thereof,  she  would  give  just  occasion 
to  her  people  of  any  inward  grudge,  —  a  princess  to 
whom  no  worldly  thing  under  the  sun  is  so  dear 
as  the  hearty  love  and  good-will  of  her  nobles  and 
subjects,"  —  he  deplored  "the  loss  of  Calais,  of  the 
crown  revenues,  of  munition  and  artillery,  the  in 
credible  sum  of  moneys  owing  by  the  state,  and 
the  biting  interest  of  the  debt " ;  he  spake  of  the 

VOL.   I.  17 


130          THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH.      [Cn.  VI. 

66  new  increased  charge  for  the  continual  maintenance 
of  the  navy,  the  strongest  wall  of  defence  that  can 
be  against  the  enemies  of  the  island" ;  from  all  which 
he  argued  the  necessity  of  a  subsidy.  "Yet/'  he 
added,  "her  Majesty's  will  and  pleasure  is,  that 
nothing  shall  be  demanded  or  required  of  her  loving 
subjects,  but  that  which  they,  of  their  own  free 
wills  and  liberalities,  be  well  contented,  readily  and 
gladly,  frankly  and  freely  to  offer."  He  concluded 
his  address  by  directing  the  members  of  the  Com 
mons  to  repair  to  their  House,  there  "  to  select  one 
both  grave  and  discreet,  who,  after  being  by  them 
presented  to  her  Highness,  and  that  presentation 
by  her  admitted,  should  then  occupy  the  office  and 
room  of  their  common  mouth  and  speaker  "  between 
her  Majesty  and  themselves.1 

The  Commons  then  retired  to  their  own  chamber, 
where  they  remained  for  some  time  in  silence,  or 
conversing  one  with  another  in  undertones,  as  if  in 
doubt  what  manner  of  proceeding  to  adopt.  In 
truth,  they  were  only  waiting  for  a  nomination  of 
Speaker  from  some  one  intrusted  with  the  queen's 
mind ; 2  and  Mr.  Treasurer  of  the  queen's  household, 
John  Mason,  was  only  waiting  for  a  sufficient  apol 
ogy,  by  the  length  of  the  silence,  to  save  appear 
ances.  At  length  he  rose  in  his  place  uncovered, 
saying,  that  u  the  queen's  command  for  the  election 
of  a  Speaker  claimed  their  immediate  attention; 
that,  finding  others  silent,  he  thought  it  his  duty 
to  expedite  business  by  venturing  upon  a  nomina 
tion  ;  that  he  would  therefore  commend  to  their 
choice  Sir  Thomas  Gargrave,  Knight,  one  of  the 

1  D'Ewes,  10  -  14.  2  Hallam,  150,  note. 


dr.  VI.]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.  131 

Honorable  Council  in  the  north  parts,  a  worthy  mem 
ber  of  the  House,  and  learned  in  the  laws  of  the 
realm ;  that  he  did  not  intend  by  this  commendation 
to  debar  others  from  uttering  their  free  opinions, 
and  nominating  any  other  one  whom  they  might 
think  better  qualified ;  that  he  would  therefore 
desire  them  to  make  known  their  opinions."  Where 
upon,  writh  one  consent  and  voice,  the  House  did 
allow  and  approve  of  Mr.  Treasurer's  nomination, 
and  elected  the  said  Sir  Thomas  Gargrave  to  be  their 
Prolocutor,  or  Speaker. 

Sir  Thomas,  like  others  in  similar  situations,  was 
modest;  and  although,  doubtless,  he  had  had  suffi 
cient  warning,  he  was  much  confused  by  the  pro 
pounding  of  so  great  an  honor  and  so  unexpected.  At 
length  he  stood  up  uncovered,  and,  in  all  humility, 
"disabled  himself,"  as  was  the  phrase  of  the  day. 
In  other  words,  he  declared  "  that  he  was  unfurnished 
with  that  experience  and  those  other  qualities  which 
were  requisite  for  the  undertaking  and  undergoing 
of  so  great  a  charge ;  that  therefore  he  felt  con 
strained  humbly  to  request  the  House  to  proceed 
to  the  election  of  some  other  more  able  and  worthy 
member." 

But  the  House  persisting,  and  calling  upon  him 
to  take  his  place,  and  he  being  so  overcome  with  a 
sense  of  his  unworthiness  that  he  had  no  heart  to  do 
so,  Mr.  Treasurer  and  Mr.  Comptroller  of  her  Majes 
ty's  household  did  kindly  go  to  his  aid ;  and,  taking 
him  each  by  an  arm,  led  him  to  the  chair,  where 
having  sat  awhile  covered,  he  rallied,  rose,  uncov 
ered,  returned  thanks,  and  promised  to  do  his  best.1 

1  D'Ewes,  40. 


132  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

On  Saturday,  the  28th,  her  Majesty  and  her  Lords 
being  present  in  the  Upper  House  and  arrayed  in 
their  several  Parliamentary  robes,1  the  Commons, 
having  been  notified  thereof,  repaired  thither  about 
one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  their  Speaker  elect 
being  led  up  to  the  rail  or  bar  at  the  lower  end  of 
the  House  by  two  of  the  most  honorable  personages 
of  the  Commons.  After  making  three  reverences  to 
her  Majesty,  he  again  "disabled  himself,"  alleging 
that  "there  were  many  of  the  Lower  House  more 
worthy  the  honor  and  more  sufficient  for  the  charge ; 
and  humbly  advising  her  Majesty  to  discharge  him 
and  to  order  a  new  election."  But  Sir  Nicholas 
Bacon,  by  her  Majesty's  commandment,  returned 
answer,  "  that  the  discernment  of  his  ability  or  dis 
ability  pertained  not  to  him,  but  to  her ;  that  in  the 
very  speech  by  which  he  had  disabled  himself,  he 
had  proved  his  ability;  that  therefore  she  would 
by  no  means  excuse  him,  but  did  hereby  ratify  and 
confirm  his  election."  Whereupon  Sir  Thomas  did 
humbly  submit  to  undergo  the  charge  and  service 
thus  imposed  upon  him,  and  then  preferred  to  her 
Majesty  four  petitions:  —  "First,  desiring  liberty  of 
access  for  the  House  of  Commons  to  her  Majesty's 
presence  upon  all  necessary  and  urgent  occasions. 
Second,  that  if  he  should  unwillingly  miscarry  in 
the  discharge  of  his  office,  he  might  be  pardoned. 
Third,  that  the  House  might  have  liberty  and  free 
dom  of  speech.  Fourth,  that  they  and  their  attend 
ants  might  be  exempted  from  all  manner  of  arrests 
and  suits  during  the  continuance  of  the  Parliament." 
To  these  petitions  the  Lord  Keeper  replied :  "  Her 

1  D'Ewes,  41. 


CH.  VI]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.  133 

Highness  is  right  well  contented  to  grant  them  unto 
you.  Marry,  with  these  conditions  and  cautions  :  — 
First,  that  your  access  be  void  of  importunity  and 
for  matters  needful  and  in  time  convenient.  For 
the  second,  that  your  diligence  and  carefulness,  Mr. 
Speaker,  be  such  that  the  defaults  in  that  part  be  as 
rare  as  may  be;  whereof  her  Majesty  doubteth 
little.  For  the  third,  her  Highness  is  right  well 
contented;  but  so  as  they  be  neither  unmindful 
or  uncareful  of  their  duties,  reverence,  and  obedience 
to  their  sovereign.  For  the  last,  that  none  seek  the 
privilege  for  the  only  defrauding  of  creditors,  or  for 
the  maintenance  of  injuries  and  wrongs."  The 
Speaker,  being  thus  allowed,  returned  with  the  Com 
mons  to  their  chamber,  with  the  Sergeant  of  the 
House  bearing  the  mace  before  him;  whereupon 
her  Majesty  and  the  Lords  also  rose  and  departed.1 

Such,  in  all  particulars,  was  the  routine  of  forms 
by  which  every  new  Parliament  was  organized ;  and 
they  are  here  noted,  not  only  because  they  have 
some  intrinsic  historical  interest,  but  also,  and  chiefly, 
for  the  better  understanding  of  some  things  to  be 
hereafter  stated. 

Before  introducing  an  important  petition  which 
the  House  of  Commons  presented  to  the  queen, 
another  matter  claims  attention ;  both  as  explanatory 
of  the  petition  itself,  and  as  the  only  key  to  some 
of  the  most  important  events  of  this  reign,  —  to  the 
behavior  of  queen,  Lords,  and  Commons,  Churchmen, 
Puritans,  and  Papists.  We  refer  to  the  succession 

1  D'Ewes,  15-17. 


134  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.     [On.  VI. 

of  the  crown.  Elizabeth's  right  —  which  for  various 
politic  reasons  was  admitted  by  this  Parliament  with 
out  discussion  or  demurrer1  —  was  based  upon  the 
will  of  her  father,  Henry  VIII.,  and  the  virtue  of 
his  connection  with  her  mother,  Anne  Boleyn ;  both 
of  which  had  been  technically  legalized  by  the  eccle 
siastical  and  civil  authorities  of  the  realm.  The 
verity  of  marriage  in  this  case,  and,  of  course,  the 
legality  of  the  will  so  far  as  Elizabeth's  succession 
was  concerned,  both  hinged  upon  the  legitimacy  or 
illegitimacy  of  Henry's  previous  connection  with 
Catharine  of  Aragon,  his  brother  Arthur's  widow; 
she  being  yet  living  when  Henry  took  Anne  as  his 
wife.  For  the  marriage  with  a  brother's  widow  — 
counted  incestuous  —  the  Pope's  special  dispensation 
had  been  obtained  soon  after  Henry,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years,  came  to  the  throne. 

Elizabeth  and  her  Parliament  held,  that  Catha 
rine,  being  the  widow  of  Arthur,  could  not  become 
Henry's  lawful  wife,  —  the  dispensation  of  the  Pope 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding;  that,  consequent 
ly,  Henry's  marriage  with  Anne  was  true  and  law 
ful,  her  daughter  Elizabeth  incorrupt,  and  the  will 
of  Henry  touching  Elizabeth's  succession  valid. 

The  Catholics  held,  that  Catharine  was  Henry's 
lawful  wife,  although  his  brother's  widow ;  that  she 
was  such  ly  virtue  of  the  Pope's  dispensation ;  that, 
the  Pope  having  never  annulled  this  marriage,  that 
of  Anne  was  untrue,  and  its  fruit  illegitimate  and 
incapable  of  inheriting  the  crown.2 

Besides    all    this,   Queen   Mary's    Parliament   had 

1  1  Eliz.,  Cap.  III.     D'Ewes,  19,  2  Rapin,  H.  50. 

47  Us,  49. 


CH.  VI.]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.  135 

declared  the  marriage  with  Catharine  to  have  been 
lawful,  and  never  to  have  been  dissolved  but  by 
death ;  and  this  by  a  law  yet  unrepealed.1 

If  the  reasoning  of  Elizabeth  and  her  Parliament 
was  sound,  she  was  the  lawful  possessor  of  the 
throne.  If  that  of  the  Catholics  was  right,  the 
throne  should  have  been  filled  by  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  in  virtue  of  her  descent  from  Henry  VII.  and 
his  daughter  Margaret,  the  wife  of  James  IV.  of 
Scotland.  This  Catholic  view  of  the  case  must  be 
kept  in  mind,  as  the  ground  of  many  acts  of  Parlia 
ment  in  future  years,  and  as  the  occasion  of  many 
plots  against  Elizabeth,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
Indeed,  at  this  very  time  "  the  king  of  France  did 
labor  tooth  and  nail  at  Home,  that  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots  might  be  pronounced  lawful  Queen  of  Eng 
land."2 

This  queen,  now  married  to  the  heir-apparent 
to  the  throne  of  France,  although,  at  the  command 
of  her  husband  and  his  father,  she  quartered  the 
arms  of  England  with  the  arms  of  Scotland  upon 
her  household  equipage,  and  in  public  instruments 
used  the  style  of  "  Queen  of  Scotland,  England,  and 
Ireland," 3  did  not  herself  urge  that  Elizabeth  was 
a  usurper.  But  she  did  justly  claim  —  nor  was  her 
claim  controverted  —  that  she  was  next  heir  to  the 
English  throne,  should  Elizabeth,  without  heir  of 
her  body,  decease. 

Mary  of  Scotland  was  a  thorough  Catholic ;  and 
nothing  was  a  matter  of  so  much  apprehension  to 
the  present  Parliament  as  the  possibility  that  another 


1  Rapin,  II.  50.     Hume,  H.  519.  3  Camden,  33. 

2  Camden,  15,  33. 


136  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

devotee  of  Eome  should  succeed  to  the  English 
throne.  To  provide  against  this  possibility,  they 
were  anxious  for  their  queen's  marriage,  that,  by 
becoming  a  mother,  she  might  cut  off  Mary's  claim 
for  ever.  Commoners  and  statesmen  alike  exclaimed 
bitterly:  "This  delay  of  ripe  time  for  marriage 
doth  imperil  the  loss  of  the  realm;  for  without 
posterity  of  her  Highness,  ivhat  hope  is  left  unto  us  ?  " J 
The  Commons  had  hardly  composed  themselves 
to  business,  when,  on  the  4th  of  February,  many 
arguments  were  urged  by  different  members,  that 
the  Queen's  Majesty  should  be  petitioned,  and  in 
form,  to  dispose  herself  to  marriage.2  The  subject 
was  again  before  them  on  the  6th,  when  a  commit 
tee,  consisting  of  the  Speaker,  all  the  Privy  Council, 
and  thirty  other  members  of  the  House,  were  ap 
pointed  "  to  petition  her  Majesty  touching  her  mar 
riage."  3  The  temporal  Lords  did  not  join  with 
them ;  not  because  they  did  not  accord  with  them, 
but  lest  any  one  of  them  should  seem  to  be  moved 
therein  by  a  hope  of  his  own  elevation  as  consort- 
royal.4  The  queen,  having  been  first  requested5 
"that  they  might  have  access  to  her  presence  to 
move  a  matter  uirto  her  which  they  esteemed  of 
great  importance  for  the  general  state  of  all  the 
realm,"  granted  their  request ;  and  a  time  was  set  for 
audience.6  This  set  day  does  not  appear  upon  rec 
ord  ;  but  it  must  have  been  before  the  10th  of  the 
month,  for  on  that  day  the  committee  reported 
to  the  House  her  Majesty's  answer.7 

1  Haynes,  212;  Chaloner  to  Cecil.  5  Ibid. 

2  D'Ewes,  44.     Speed,  858.  6  Hayward,  30. 

3  D'Ewes,  45.  7  D'Ewes,   46.      Hayward    says: 

4  Camden,  25.  «  The   Commons  were  brought  be- 


CH.  VI]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH.  137 

Upon  the  day  appointed,  her  Majesty  took  her 
seat  in  royal  state  in  the  great  gallery  of  her  palace 
of  Whitehall;1  when  the  Speaker  of  the  House, 
having  "  some  few  selected  men  "  —  the  rest  of  the 
Committee  —  "with  him/'2  addressed  her,  in  sub 
stance  as  follows.  He  said,  that  "  it  was  the  single, 
the  only,  the  all-comprehending  prayer  of  all  Eng 
lishmen,  that  the  happiness  received  by  her  gracious 
government  might  be  perpetuated  to  the  nation 
unto  all  eternity;  that  this  could  not  be,  —  her 
Majesty  being  mortal,  —  except,  by  marriage,  she 
should  bring  forth  children,  heirs  of  their  mother's 
virtues  and  empire";3  "that  thus  only  could  the 
dangers  be  prevented  which  would  ensue  to  the 
state  upon  her  death,  and  those  also  which  in  the 
mean  time  did  threaten  herself;  and  that,  thereby, 
as  well  the  fears  of  her  faithful  subjects  and  friends, 
as  the  ambitious  hopes  of  her  enemies,  should  clean 
be  cut  off." 4 

"After  a  sweet  graced  silence,  with  a  princely 
countenance  and  voice,  and  with  a  gesture  somewhat 
quick,  but  not  violent,"5  the  queen  returned  the 
following  characteristic  answer. 

"In  a  matter  most  unpleasing,  most  pleasing  to 


fore  her,"  when   the   petition   was  petition.     It  is  impossible  to  recon- 

preferred ;  D'Ewes,  that  on  the  10th  cile  the  two.     Camden  is  explicit, 

"  the  Speaker  declared  the  Queen's  saying,   "  the    Speaker,   with  some 

Majesty's  answer   to   the   message,  few  selected  men,"  appeared  before 

which   was  read  to  the  House  by  the  queen. 

Mr.   Mason,"  the  treasurer   of  the  l  Hay  ward,  31.     Holingshed,  IV. 

queen's   household,  —  a  report  not  178. 

consistent  with  the  presence  of  the  2  Camden,  25. 

whole  House  when  the  answer  was  3  Ibid.,  26. 

pronounced,  which   Hay  ward   says  *  Hay  ward,  31. 

was  done  in  immediate  reply  to  the  5  Ibid. 

VOL.   I.  18 


138  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

me  are  the  good  zeal  and  loving  care  you  seem  to 
have  as  well  towards  me  as  to  the  Commonwealth ; 
for  which,  as  I  have  good  cause,  so  do  I  give  you  all 
my  hearty  thanks. 

66  Concerning  marriage,  which  ye  so  earnestly  move 
me  to,  I  have  been  long  since  persuaded  that  I  was 
sent  into  the  world  by  God  to  think  and  do  those 
things  chiefly  which  may  tend  to  his  glory;  and 
sith  I  first  had  this  consideration,  I  happily  chose 
this  kind  of  life  in  which  I  yet  live.  From  which 
if  either  offered  marriages  of  most  potent  princes, 
or  the  danger  of  death  intended  against  me,  would 
have  removed  me,  I  had  long  agone  enjoyed  the 
honor  of  a  husband.  These  things  have  I  thought 
upon  when  I  was  a  private  person.  But  now  that 
the  public  care  of  governing  the  kingdom  is  laid 
upon  me,  to  draw  upon  me  also  the  cares  of  mar 
riage,  may  seem  a  point  of  inconsiderate  folly. 

"Yea,  to  satisfy  you,  I  have  already  joined  my 
self  in  marriage  to  a  husband,  namely,  the  king 
dom  of  England.  And  behold  —  which  I  marvel 
ye  have  forgotten  —  the  pledge  of  this  my  wed 
lock,"  —  drawing  from  her  finger  her  coronation 
ring.  "  And  do  not,"  she  added,  after  a  pause,  —  "  do 
not  upbraid  me  with  miserable  lack  of  children ;  for 
every  one  of  you,  and  as  many  as  are  Englishmen, 
are  children  and  kinsmen  to  me,  of  whom  if  God 
deprive  me  not,  —  which  may  he  forefend !  —  I  can 
not,  without  injury,  be  counted  barren. 

"  For  the  manner  of  your  petition,  I  like  it  well, 
and  take  it  in  good  part ;  because  it  is  simple,  and 
containeth  no  limitation  of  place  or  person.  If  it 
had  been  otherwise ;  if  you  had  taken  upon  you  to 


CH.  VI.]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.  139 

confine,  or  rather  to  bind,  my  choice,  to  draw  my 
love  to  your  liking,  to  frame  my  affection  according 
to  your  fantasies,  —  I  must  have  misliked  it  very 
much,  and  thought  it  in  you  a  very  great  presump 
tion, —  for  a  guerdon  constrained,  and  a  gift  freely 
given,  can  never  agree  together. 

"  Nevertheless,  if  any  of  you  be  in  suspect  that, 
if  it  please  God  to  incline  my  heart  to  another  kind 
of  life,  I  shall  determine  anything  which  may  be 
prejudicial  to  the  Commonwealth  by  choosing  a 
husband  that  will  not  have  as  great  care  of  the 
same  as  myself,  —  put  that  jealousy  clean  out  of 
your  heads ;  for  upon  whomsoever  my  choice  shall 
fall,  my  will  and  best  endeavor  shall  not  fail  that  he 
shall  be  as  careful  for  you  as  myself,  who  will  never 
spare  to  spend  my  life  as  a  loving  mother  for  the 
preservation  and  prosperity  of  the  realm. 

"  And  "  —  she  added,  in  words  so  beautifully  child 
like  towards  God,  and  so  prophetically  descriptive 
of  the  ultimate  issues,  as  to  claim  our  special  remem 
brance  — "  and  albeit  it  shall  please  God  that  I  still 
persevere  in  a  virgin's  state,  yet  you  must  not  fear 
but  he  will  so  work  in  my  heart  and  in  your  wisdom, 
that  provision  shall  be  made,  in  fitting  time,  whereby 
the  realm  shall  not  remain  destitute  of  an  heir  who 
may  be  a  fit  governor,  and,  peradventure,  more  ben 
eficial  than  such  offspring  as  might  come  of  me, 
considering  that  the  issue  of  the  best  princes  many 
times  groweth  out  of  kind  and  becometh  ungracious. 
The  dangers  which  you  fear  are  neither  so  certain 
nor  of  such  a  nature,  but  you  may  repose  yourselves 
upon  the  providence  of  God  and  the  good  provisions 
of  the  state.  Wits  curious  in  casting  things  to  come 


140  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

are  often  hurtful ;  for  that  the  affairs  of  this  world 
are  subject  to  so  many  accidents,  that  seldom  doth 
that  happen  which  the  wisdom  of  men  doth  seem  to 
foresee. 

"  As  for  me,  it  shall  be  sufficient  that,  when  I  let 
my  last  breath,  a  marble  stone  shall  declare  that  a 
queen,  having  lived  and  reigned  so  many  years, 
died  a  virgin.1 

"And  here  I  end,  and  take  your  coming  in  very 
good  part,  and  again  give  hearty  thanks  to  you  all ; 
yet  more  for  your  zeal  and  good  meaning  than  for 
the  matter  of  your  suit."  2 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  this  answer,  which 
was  a  denial  of  the  petitioners,  or  which  at  best  only 
admitted  the  remote  possibility  of  compliance,  could 
have  given  satisfaction ;  unless  it  were  merely  for 
the  condescending  grace  and  womanly  tenderness 
with  which  it  was  interspersed.  Nevertheless,  when 
reported  by  the  committee  on  the  10th  of  February, 
it  seems  to  have  been  "  to  the  contentation  of  the 
House." 3 

This  really  serious  matter  being  thus  disposed  of 
for  the  present,  we  find  the  Parliament  engrossed 
with  the  momentous  and  delicate  business  of  settling 
the  religion  of  the  state.  Their  doings  it  is  necessary 
to  state  with  some  minuteness ;  for  constant  refer- 


1  Echard,  792.  preserved  by  one  annalist,  but  omit- 

2  The  version  of  the  queen's  an-  ted   by   the   others,   and    to   avoid 
swer    given    in   the   text,    I    have  that  obscurity  and  involution  which 
framed    by   a  careful    collation   of  are  particularly  perplexing  in  Graf- 
those  given  by  Hayward,  Camden,  ton's  memoriter  report  as  given  by 
and  D'Ewes,  which  essentially  agree.  D'Ewes  and  Holingshed. 

My  object  has  been  to  retain  some  3  D'Ewes,  46. 
sentences   and   phrases  which   are 


CH.  VI.]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH. 

ence  must  be  had  to  them  in  describing  the  reasons, 
the  nature,  and  the  progress  of  the  religious  strifes 
and  oppressions  which  ensued. 

An  act  was  passed,  entitled  "  An  Act  restoring  to 
the  Crown  the  ancient  Jurisdiction  over  the  State 
ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  and  abolishing  all  foreign 
Power  repugnant  to  the  same."  l  It  is  commonly 
called  "The  Act  of  Supremacy."  In  this  act,  the 
sovereign  was  not  styled  Supreme  Head  of  the 
Church,  but  Supreme  Governor.2  Elizabeth  consent 
ed  to  the  latter  title,  but  objected  to  the  former ; 3 
alleging  that  it  "imported  too  great  a  power,  and 
came  too  near  that  authority  which  Christ  only  had 
over  the  Church."  •  This  was  a  religious  reason. 
There  was  also,  doubtless,  an  unpublished  political 
reason, — the  same  which  prevailed  for  certain  "alter 
ations  and  additions  "  to  the  Keformed  Liturgy,  — 
that  the  title  of  Supreme  Head  would  have  been 
peculiarly  offensive  to  her  Catholic  subjects.5  "  So 
whilst  their  ears  were  favored  in  her  waiving  the 
word,  their  souls  were  deceived  with  the  same  sense 
under  another  expression." 6 

By  this  act  —  besides  what  is  clearly  set  forth  in 
the  title  —  the  queen  was  empowered  to  nominate 
all  bishops  in  the  old  way  of  conge,  d'elire,  as  by  act  of 
Parliament  25  Henry  VIII.;7  to  control  the  ecclesi 
astical  state  and  persons  by  juridical  visitation ;  to 
reform,  order,  and  correct  all  manner  of  heresies, 

1  1  Eliz.  Cap.  L  5  Collier,  VI.   226.      Btirnet,  H. 

2  Sec.  IX.  597. 

3  Zurich    Letters,    No.    XVIII. ;  6  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  53. 
Parkhurst  to  Bullinger.  7  See  ante,  p.   31,  note  3.     Also 

4  Burnet,  H.   583.     Zurich   Let-  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  53.     Carte,  III. 
ters,  No.  XX. ;  Jewel  to  Bullinger.  215.     Burnet,  II.  596. 


142  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

schisms,  offences,  contempts,  and  enormities  in  the 
Church.1 

To  effect  this,  she  was  further  authorized  to  dele 
gate  these  powers  of  visitation  and  correction,  by  her 
letters  patent,  to  such  commissioners  as  she  might 
select,  whenever,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  as  she  might 
please ; 2  the  same  powers  which  Henry  VIII.  had 
intrusted  to  a  single  delegate,  or  vicegerent.3 

All  persons  holding  benefice  or  office  under  the 
crown  —  whether  lay  or  ecclesiastic  —  were  required 
to  take  an  oath,  called  the  Oath  of  Supremacy,4  avow 
ing  "the  queen  to  be  the  only  supreme  governor 
within  the  realm,  as  well  in  all  spiritual  or  ecclesias 
tical  causes  and  things  as  temporal " ;  and  renouncing 
all  like  jurisdiction  of  any  foreign  prince  or  prelate  ; 5 
and  for  such  persons  to  refuse  the  oath  was  to  for 
feit  promotion,  benefice,  or  office.6 

The  same  oath  was  also  to  be  required  in  future, 
as  a  condition  of  receiving  any  benefice,  ministry,  or 


1  1  Eliz.  Cap.  I.  Sec.  VIII.  realm;   and  therefore  I  do  utterly 

2  Ibid.  renounce   and    forsake   all    foreign 

3  Stow,  636.     Rapin,  II.  54.  jurisdictions,    powers,   superiorities, 

4  The  entire  oath  was  in  form  as  and    authorities,   and    do   promise, 
follows :  —  that  from  henceforth  I   shall  bear 

"  I,  A.  B.,  do  utterly  testify  and  faith    and    true   allegiance  to  the 

declare    in    my    conscience,    That  Queen's    Highness,   her    heirs   and 

the  Queen's  Highness  is  the  only  lawful  successors,  and  to  my  power 

supreme    governor    of   this  realm,  shall  assist  and  defend  all  jurisdic- 

and  of  all  other  her  Highness'  do-  tions,  preheminences,  privileges,  and 

minions  and  countries,  as  well  in  all  authorities  granted  or  belonging  to 

spiritual  or  ecclesiastical  things  or  the  Queen's  Highness,  her  heirs  and 

causes,  as  temporal ;    and  that  no  successors,  or  united  and  annexed 

foreign  prince,  person,  prelate,  state,  to  the  imperial  crown  of  this  realm, 

or  potentate  hath  or  ought  to  have  So  help  me  God,  and  the  contents 

any  jurisdiction,  power,  superiority,  of  this  book." 

or  preheminence,  or   authority  ec-  5  1  Eliz.  Cap.  I.  Sec.  IX. 

clesiastical   or  spiritual  within  this  °  Ibid.  Sec.  X. 


CH.  VI]     THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.  143 

other  office,  lay  or  ecclesiastical ; l  and  as  a  condition 
of  taking  orders,  and  of  being  promoted  to  any 
degree  of  learning.2 

Any  one  affirming  the  authority  within  the  realm 
of  any  foreign  power,  spiritual  or  ecclesiastical,  and 
any  abettor  of  him  so  affirming,  for  the  first  offence 
was  to  forfeit  all  goods  and  chattels  real  and  per 
sonal  ;  but,  if  not  worth  <£  20,  to  forfeit  what  he  was 
worth,  and  to  be  imprisoned  a  year ;  for  the  second 
offence,  to  incur  the  penalties  of  a  prasmunire ;  for 
the  third,  to  incur  the  fearful  penalties  of  high 
treason.3 

Another  act  was  entitled,  "An  Act  for  the  Uni 
formity  of  Common  Prayer  and  Divine  Service  in 
the  Church,  and  the  Administration  of  the  Sacra 
ments."  4 

By  this  act,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  and 
Administration  of  the  Sacraments  set  forth  5  and  6 
Edward  VI.  was  revived,  with  some  "  alterations  and 
additions  "  ; 5  and  any  parson,  vicar,  or  minister,  who 
should  refuse  to  use  it,  or  who  should  in  any 
religious  service  —  others  being  present  —  use  any 
other  than  the  rites  and  forms  therein  set  down,  or 
who  should  preach,  declare,  or  speak  anything  in 
derogation  of  the  Book,  or  of  any  part  thereof, 
should,  for  the  first  offence,  forfeit  the  profit  of  all 
his  spiritual  benefices  or  promotions  for  a  year,  and 
be  imprisoned  six  months  without  bail  or  main- 
prise  ; 6  for  the  second  offence,  he  should  be  impris- ' 

1  1  Eliz.  Cap.  I.  Sec.  X.  *  1  Eliz.  Cap.  II. 

2  Ibid.  Sec.  XH.  5  Ibid.  Sec.  I. 

3  Ibid.  Sec.  XIV.  8  Hallam  is  far  from  stating  this 


144  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

oned  a  year,  and  be  deprived  of  all  his  spiritual 
promotions  ;  for  the  third  offence,  he  should  be 
deprived  and  imprisoned  during  life.1 

Ministers  so  offending,  but  not  beneficed,  were  to 
be  imprisoned  a  year  for  the  first  offence ;  and  for 
life,  for  the  second  offence.2 

Should  any  person  whatsoever  —  meaning  persons 
not  in  orders  —  defame  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
or  procure  any  minister  to  minister  any  sacrament, 
or  to  say  any  "  open  prayer,"  —  defined  by  the  stat 
ute  to  be  "  prayer  for  others  to  come  unto,  or  hear," 
—  in  any  other  than  the  prescribed  form,  for  the 
first  offence  he  should  forfeit  a  hundred  marks ;  for 
the  second,  four  hundred  marks ;  for  the  third,  all 
goods  and  chattels,  and  be  imprisoned  for  life.3 

Persons  neglecting,  without  lawful  or  reasonable 
excuse,  to  come  to  their  parish  churches  on  Sundays 
and  other  days  ordained  to  be  kept  as  holy  days, 
were  to  forfeit,  for  each  offence,  twelve  pence.4 

The  ornaments  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  ministers 
thereof,  were  to  be  as  by  authority  of  Parliament  in 
the  second  year  of  Edward  VI.5 

The  queen  was  empowered,  with  the  advice  of 
her  commissioners,  or  of  her  metropolitan,  —  that  is, 
without  any  further  concurrence  of  the  Parliament, 
or  even  of  the  Convocation  of  the  Clergy,  —  to 


penalty  correctly.     He  says  that  it  beneficed  and  for  those  not  bene- 

was  "  forfeiting  goods  and  chattels,"  ficed.     Hallam,  p.  74. 

—  nothing   else.     The  penalty  for  l  1  Eliz.  Cap.  H.  Sec.  IL 

"the  second  offence,  he  states  to  be  2  Ibid.  Sec.  II. 

only    imprisonment    for     a    year  ;  3  Ibid.  Sec.  III. 

whereas  "  deprivation  "  is  added  in  4  Ibid.  Sec  III. 

the  statute.     Nor  does  he  notice  the  6  Ibid.  Sec.  XIH. 
difference  of  penalty  for  ministers 


CH.  VI.]      THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT   OF  ELIZABETH.  145 

ordain  further  ceremonies  or  rites  indefinitely}  Upon 
this  provision  she  peremptorily  insisted  ;  and,  with 
out  it,  would  not  have  passed  the  act.2 

Such  was  the  Supremacy.  Such  was  Uniformity. 
Such  were  the  pains  and  penalties  by  which  their 
claims  were  to  be  enforced.  Such  were  the  terrors 
under  which  every  man  was  commanded  to  worship 
God,  irrespective  of  his  conscience,  irrespective  of 
the  Bible,  irrespective  of  his  understanding  of  the 
Bible.  It  will  be  our  task,  so  far  as  may  be,  to  trace 
the  operation  and  fruits  of  these  laws  and  their 
penalties  through  the  sixteenth  century  at  least. 
A  righteous  judgment  of  those  who  thus  converted 
things  trivial  into  things  momentous,  who,  of  men's 
inventions,  instituted  so  grievous  a  bondage,  and 
enacted  penalties  so  tremendous,  cannot  be  formed 
unless  we  estimate  —  which  we  cannot  fully  do  — 
the  emasculating  influence  of  old  traditions  even 
upon  the  strongest  minds.  Nor,  indeed,  unless  we 
can  estimate  the  complicated  and  critical  relations 
of  the  crown  of  England  to  other  crowns,  to  a 
religion  writhing  under  a  fresh  and  deadly  wound, 
and  to  the  religion  which  itself  had  chosen  as  its 
tower  of  defence. 

While  we  scan  the  rigid  and  exacting  policy  of 
Elizabeth  and  her  truly  sagacious  ministers,  we 
cannot  help  comparing  it,  in  our  secret  thoughts, 
with  the  ripe  freedom  of  our  own  age  and  country, 
and,  perhaps,  wondering  at  the  Protestant  despotism 
of  the  past.  It  may  be  well  to  wonder.  It  may  be 
well  to  deplore.  But,  if  we  are  inclining  further,  it 


1  Ibid.  Sec.  Xm.  2  Heylin's  Ref.,  316.   Warner,  H.  417. 

VOL.   I.  19 


146  THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH.     [Cn.  VI. 

may  be  still  better  to  weigh  the  words  of  the  Gen 
tiles'  Apostle  :  "  Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from 
another?  and  what  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not 
receive  ?  Now  if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost 
thou  glory,  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it?" 
"Where  is  boasting,  then?  It  is  excluded." 

The  acts  did  not  pass  without  great  opposition.1 
In  the  Upper  House,  the  nine  spiritual  lords  who 
were  present  —  five  were  absent  —  dissented  from 
the  bill  for  the  Supremacy ;  as  also  did  the  Abbot 
of  Westminster.  It  was  opposed  by  only  one  of  the 
temporal  lords,2  Anthony  Brown,  the  Viscount  Mon 
tague,  who  "  sharply  urged  that  it  was  a  dishonor  to 
England  so  soon  to  revolt  from  the  Apostolic  See ; 
adding,  that  for  his  part,  by  authority  of  the  estate 
of  England,  he  had  tendered  obedience  to  the  Bishop 
of  Home,  and  the  same  he  could  not  but  perform." 
In  conclusion,  he  earnestly  exhorted  and  besought 
the  peers  to  remain  steadfast  in  their  spiritual  alle 
giance.3 

The  bill  for  Uniformity  met  with  greater  opposi 
tion  ;  the  nine  prelates  and  also  nine  temporal  peers 
dissenting.  The  latter  were  the  Marquess  of  Win 
chester,  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  the  Viscount  Mon 
tague,  the  Lords  Morley,  Stafford,  Dudley,  Wharton, 
Kich,  and  North.4 

1  Echard,  793.     Hayward,  26.  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  three." 

2  Camden  and  Burnet  say,  two, —  (Lingard,  VII.  261.)    Stow  says  in 
Montague  and  the  Earl  of  Shrews-  his  preface,  very  vaguely,  "  In  this 
bury.     The  bill  for  the  Supremacy     Parliament the  major  part  ex- 
was  carried  in  the  House  of  Lords  ceeded  the  minor  but  in  six  voices." 
by  three  voices  only,  says  Butler,  3  D'Ewes,  28.    Camden,  19.   But- 
I.  283.     «  The  bill  in  favor  of  the  ler,  H  11. 

new  book  of  common  prayer  ....        *  D'Ewes,  28. 


CH.  VI.]      THE  FIRST  PARLIAMENT  OF  ELIZABETH.          147 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  the  first  bill  introduced 
for  annexing  the  Supremacy  to  the  Crown,  was  long 
disputed  and  argued,  and  finally  "  dashed "  ;  after 
which  a  new  one  was  framed  and  passed,  —  "  the  far 
major  part  with  joint  mind  giving  their  voices  and 
assent." l 

The  bill  for  Uniformity  passed  with  equal  strength, 
and,  apparently,  without  special  opposition ; 2  except 
from  Doctor  John  Story,  "  a  civilian  of  some  note, 
w^ho  had  been  Professor  of  Civil  Law  in  Oxford  under 
Henry  VIII.,  and  the  chief  instrument  of  Bonner's 
butcheries  under  Queen  Mary." 3  To  one  or  both  of 
these  bills  he  made  a  bold  and  insolent  opposition ; 
boasting,  as  was  "  more  meet  to  speak  with  the  voice 
of  a  beast  than  of  a  man,"  of  his  own  particular 
barbarities  to  Queen  Mary's  victims  even  when 
chained  to  the  stake ;  lamenting  only  that  he  had 
done  no  more ;  and  declaring  that,  had  his  counsels 
been  followed,  instead  of  lopping  off  the  little  twigs 
of  heresy  in  the  last  reign,  THE  ROOT  would  have 
been  plucked  up.4  Soon  after,  he  fled  to  Antwerp, 
and  there  served  the  infamous  Duke  of  Alva  as  a 

spy- 

1  D'Ewes,  47,  49,  55.     Camden,         3  Mackintosh,  369. 

19.  4  Hayward,  25.     Holingshed,  IV. 

2  D'Ewes,  54.  177. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED. 

THE  SUPREMACY.  —  PROTESTANT  WORSHIP  REVIVED.  —  COMMISSIONERS  EM 
POWERED.  —  BISHOPS  DEPOSED.  —  OLD  THEATRICALS.  —  BARTHOLOMEW'S 
FAIR.  —  THE  PURGING  OF  THE  CHURCHES.  —  THE  NIGHT  FESTIVAL.  —  THE 
COURTIER  IN  HIS  CHAMBER. 

1559. 

HENRY  VIII.  disclaimed  all  right  "of  administer 
ing  the  sacraments  and  the  like  spirituals."  -1  When 
first  assuming  the  Supremacy,  he  made  show  of  only 
the  right  of  nominating  bishops.  His  nomination, 
however,  was  imperative,  and,  in  its  effects,  as  if 
final;  because 'the  deans  and  chapters  were  exposed 
to  the  severest  penalties  if  they  did  not  elect  the 
nominee.2  Afterwards,  the  election  of  bishops  was 
withdrawn  from  the  deans  and  chapters,  as  being  a 
useless  and  unmeaning  form.3  By  the  Act  1  Ed 
ward  VI.  Chap.  II.,  it  was  enacted  that  for  the  future 
no  conge  d'elire  should  be  granted,  nor  -  any  election 
made  by  dean  and  chapter;  but  that  the  archbish 
opric  or  the  bishopric  should  be  conferred  by  the 
king's  nomination  in  his  letters  patent.4  "  He  might 
appoint  divines  of  various  ranks  to  preach  the  Gos 
pel  and  to  administer  the  sacraments.  It  was  un 
necessary  that  there  should  be  any  imposition  of 

1  Carte,  UL  108,  109.  3  Collier,  V.  227. 

2  Ibid.,  215.  4  Ibid.,  228. 


CH.  VILJ  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  149 

hands.  The  king  —  such  was  the  opinion  of  Cran- 
mer,  given  in  plain  words  —  might,  in  virtue  of 
authority  from  God,  make  a  priest;  and  the  priest 
so  made  needed  no  ordination  whatever." l  In  1552, 
a  bishop's  patent  ran,  "so  long  as  he  shall  behave 
himself  well " ;  which  meant,  so  long  as  the  sover 
eign  might  think  well  of  his  behaving.  Thus,  the 
bishop  might  be  deposed,  as  well  as  created,  by  a 
mere  act  of  the  king's  will.2 

Soon  after  her  Parliament  was  dissolved,  on  the 
8th  of  May,  1559,  Queen  Elizabeth  became  aware  of 
a  popular  rumor,  that,  by  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  she 
had  power  to  administer  divine  service  in  the  church. 
To  correct  an  idea  so  unseemly  to  her  sex,  so  preju 
dicial  to  her  popularity,  and  which  might  impede 
the  taking  of  the  Oath  of  Supremacy,  she  inserted 
in  her  public  injunctions  to  her  commissioners  a 
chapter  entitled  "An  Admonition  to  Simple  Men 
deceived  by  Malicious."  In  this  she  said  that  "  she 
claimed  no  other  authority  than  had  been  claimed  and 
used  by  King  Henry  VIII.  and  King  Edward  VI; 
which  is,  and  was  of  ancient  time,  due  to  the  impe 
rial  crown  of  the  realm ;  that  is,  under  God,  to  have 
the  sovereignty  and  rule  over  all  manner  of  persons 
born  within  these  her  realms,  of  what  estate,  either 
ecclesiastical  or  temporal,  soever  they  be,  so  as  no 
other  foreign  power  shall  or  ought  to  have  any 
superiority  over  them.  And  if  any  person  that  hath 
conceived  any  other  sense  of  the  form  of  the  Oath 
of  Supremacy  should  accept  the  same  with  this 
interpretation,  her  Majesty  would  accept  such  as  her 
good  and  obedient  subjects." 3 

1  Macaulay,  I.  52.  -  Rapin,  II.  24.  8  Sparrow,  83. 


150  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  [Cn.  VII. 

There  was  ambiguity  —  probably  designed  —  in 
substituting  the  word  "persons"  in  this  declaration 
for  the  words  u  causes  and  things  "  in  the  Oath  ;  for 
while  the  new  word  seemed,  in  its  application  to 
the  Church,  to  designate  simply  its  functionaries,  it 
truly  embraced  all  ecclesiastical  "  causes  and  things  " 
to  them  appertaining,  and  which  could  have  no 
existence  without  persons.  The  greater  included 
the  less. 

As  the  statute  had  limited  her  power  in  the 
election  of  bishops  to  that  of  nominating  in  the  old 
way  of  conge,  d'elire,  Elizabeth,  by  this  proclamation, 
really  disclaimed  nothing  but  the  right  to  exercise 
the  spiritual  functions  of  an  ecclesiastic.  It  still 
remained,  that  not  an  office  could  be  filled  in  the 
Church  but  by  her  authority  and  consent ;  that  by 
her  will  and  word  alone  she  could  depose  from  any 
spiritual  office ;  that  no  Convocation  of  the  Clergy 
could  assemble  but  by  her  order,  continue  beyond 
her  pleasure,  or  make  canons  without  her  assent;1 
that  the  ornaments  of  the  Church,  the  apparel  of 
the  clergy,  and  the  ceremonies  of  worship  —  with 
the  slightest  possible  check  —  were  under  her  con 
trol  ;  that  not  a  doctrine  might  be  taught  which  she 
disapproved;  that  throughout  the  kingdom  not  a 
sermon  might  be  preached  when  she  should  forbid.2 

The  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  Elizabeth  was  a 
monopoly  of  ecclesiastical  authority,  papistical,  ul 
tra-apostolical,3  despotic.  Witness  her  own  words: 
"  The  full  power,  authority,  jurisdiction,  and  suprem 
acy  in  Church  causes,  which  heretofore  the  Popes 

1  Neal,  I.  74.     Macaulay,  I.  54.  8  Collier,  VH.  41. 

2  Neal,  I.  73. 


CH.  VIL]  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  151 

usurped  and  took  to  themselves,  is  united  and  annexed 
to  the  imperial  crown  of  this  realm."  x 

This  was  but  a  branch  of  her  royal  prerogative ; 
and  this  prerogative  she  always  regarded  as  "the 
chiefest  flower  in  her  garden,  and  the  principal  and 
head  pearl  in  her  crown  and  diadem."2  It  will 
appear  as  we  proceed,  how  she  uniformly  resented 
the  least  deviation  from  the  laws  of  worship,  whether 
prescribed  by  Parliament  or  by  her  own  injunctions ; 
how  she  met  as  a  personal  outrage  the  least  approach 
to  intermeddling  with  religious  matters,  when  not 
initiated  and  authorized  by  herself.3  By  her  con 
struction,  every  ecclesiastic  and  every  layman  in  the 
Church  owed  to  her  orders  the  same  unquestioning, 
unhesitating,  and  exact  obedience  which,  in  the 
army,  every  officer  and  every  private  owed  to  the 
orders  of  his  general.*  In  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  her 
reign,  Morrice,  an  Attorney  of  the  Duchy  of  Lan 
caster,  presented  a  bill  in  the  House  of  Commons 
for  retrenching  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  It  was  the 
touch  of  a  profane  hand  upon  the  ark  of  the  Lord. 
A  dungeon  till  he  died  was  the  penalty  of  his  sin.5 

"  One  matter  toucheth  me  so  near  that  I  may  not 
overskip,"  said  she  in  her  speech,  when  closing  the 
Parliament  in  March,  1584—5.  "  God  hath  made 
me  the  Overlooker  of  the  Church.  If  any  schisms 
or  errors  heretical  are  suffered  therein,  which  you 
my  lords  of  the  clergy  do  not  amend,  I  mind  to  depose 
you.  Look  you,  therefore,  well  to  your  charges." 6 

1  Strype's  Whitgift,  260.  4  Collier,  VI.  584,  note. 

2  D'Ewes,  547.     Speech  to  Par-        5  Heylin's  Ref.,  Introduct.     Col- 
liament  in  1597.  lier,  VIL  163,  who  omits,  however, 

3  Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VII.  Sec.  Mori-ice's  tragical  end. 

37.     Hallam,  77,  105.  6  Stow,  702.  Strype's  Whitgift,  20  7. 


152         THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.      [Cn.  VII. 

"  Proud  prelate ! "  she  wrote  to  Doctor  Cox,  who 
demurred  at  an  encroachment  upon  his  land  which 
she  had  seen  fit  to  allow,  — "  Proud  prelate  !  You 
know  what  you  were  before  I  made  you  what  you 
are.  If  you  do  not  immediately  comply  with  my 
request,  by  God !  I  will  unfrock  you.  Elizabeth." 1 

On  the  24th  of  June 2  the  Act  of  Uniformity  took 
effect.  Mass  was  abolished,  and  the  English  liturgy 
established.  About  the  same  time,  her  Majesty 
appointed  her  commissioners,  as  by  statute  provided, 
to  regulate  ecclesiastical  affairs  throughout  the  king 
dom;  to  purge  the  churches  from  the  insignia  of 
Popery ;  to  inquire  into  the  vices  of  the  people ;  to 
note  and  correct  the  doctrines,  the  apparel,  and  the 
behavior  of  the  clergy,  particularly  in  the  tap-room 
and  at  gambling-tables ;  to  discharge  any  who  were 
imprisoned  on  account  of  their  religion;  to  restore 
to  their  benefices  such  as  had  been  unlawfully  ejected 
from  them  in  the  late  reign,  and  to  enforce  certain 
injunctions 3  which  she  published  touching  religious 
matters.  Any  two  of  the  commissioners  were  em 
powered  to  punish  delinquents  by  ecclesiastical  "  and 
such  other  correction  as "  to  them  "  shall  be  seen 
convenient " ; 4  to  deprive  unworthy  ministers ;  and 

1  "  There  are  so  many  versions        2  Strype's  Annals,  I.  200.     Cam- 

of  this  pithy  letter  that  its  authen-  den,  31.     1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.  Sec.  K, 

ticity  becomes   doubtful.     No  bet-  "from  and   after  the   feast  of  the 

ter  authority  has  been  found  than  nativity  of  St.  John  Baptist."     Hoi- 

'The  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  Vol.  ingshed,  by  mistake,   says  14th  of 

LXXIX.  Pt.  I.  p.  136,  where  it  is  May  (IV.  184). 
printed  from  the  '  Registry  of  Ely.' "         3  Sparrow,  67-82. 
—Life  of  Hatton,p.  36,  note.     The        *  Ibid.,  86. 
version  in  the  text  is  as  in  Hallam, 
134,  note. 


CH.  VII.J  THE  REFORMATION  KESTORED.  153 

to  restore  to  their  benefices  such  as  had  been  unlaw 
fully  deprived  in  the  late  reign.1 

In  the  beginning  of  July,  they  commenced  their 
duties 2  by  tendering  the  Oath  of  Supremacy  to  the 
clergy.  The  year  before,  a  malignant  epidemic  had 
swept  the  kingdom  of  nearly  half  the  bishops  and 
a  great  number  of  the  parochial  clergy.3  Only  fif 
teen  bishops  remained  •  all  of  whom,  except  Doctor 
Kitchin,  the  Bishop  of  Landaff,  refused  the  oath, 
were  consequently  deprived  of  their  bishoprics,  and 
three  of  them  —  obnoxious  for  their  cruelty  during 
Mary's  reign  —  were  committed  to  close  prison.4 

Clerkenwell  Green  was  a  famous  place  for  merry 
doings.  That  old  church  and  those  old  elms  had 
witnessed  rare  and  roistering  pastimes  years  and 
years  before  Queen  Elizabeth  was  born,  or  bluff 
Harry,  her  sire.  Many  a  gallant  and  many  a  merry 
maid,  now  churchyard  dust,  had  exchanged  looks, 
and  whispers,  and  true-love  tokens,  at  the  fairs  of 
Clerkenwell;  and  so  had  lords  and  ladies,  princes 
and  princesses, — dust  now,  as  well  as  humbler  lovers. 
Many  a  parish  clerk  of  London  in  bygone  years 
had  piously  turned  stage-player  there  once  a  twelve 
month  ;  playing  whole  histories  out  of  the  Bible, 
with  divers  artistic  emendations  and  the  Devil  for 
merry-andrew ;  revivifying  Samson  and  Delilah,  Da 
vid  and  Goliah,  Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 

1  Holingshed,  IV.    185.      Carte,        3  Heyl.  Kef.,  286  ;  Presb.,  Bk.  VI. 
HI.  373.     Warner,  II.  421.     Heyl.     Sec.  14.    Burnet,  H.  612.    Strype's 
Ref.,  188  -  306  passim.     Burnet,  H.    Memorials,  VI.  156, 157. 

619.     Neal,  I.  81.  4  Holingshed,    IV.    184.      Heyl. 

2  Strype's   Annals,   I.    105,   202.    Ref.,  286.     Stow,  639,  670. 
Strype's  Grindal,  24. 

VOL.  i.  20 


154        THE  EEFORMATION  RESTORED.       [Cn.  VII. 

Compared  with  the  actors  of  the  nineteenth  centu 
ry,  they  of  the  fourteenth  were  Anakim.  At  their 
entertainments,  the  reign  of  a  single  king  was  but 
a  tit-bit;  and  the  playing  of  a  single  day,  but  a 
whetter  of  the  appetite.  They  used  to  play  out 
generations  after  generations  for  a  play  of  two  or 
three  days  long ;  and  with  kings  and  queens  to  hear 
them,  too,  and  to  hear  them  through.  Witness  the 
record  of  their  doings  in  July,  1390.  That  was  a 
small  play,  though ;  for  nineteen  years  after,  at 
Skinner's  Well,  hard  by,  they  played  a  play  eight 
days  long,  to  rapt  hearers,  noble  and  ignoble,  in 
which  they  dramatized  the  whole  history  of  the 
world  from  the  creation  to  the  year  of  grace  140 9.1 
Players  ivere  players  in  those  days.  Many  a  Popish 
priest,  too,  —  until  forbidden  by  royal  proclama 
tion  in  1549,  —  had  turned  player,  to  caricature  the 
Reformation  and  bring  it  into  contempt  with  the 
people.2 

Clerkenwell  Green  was  still  the  place  of  places 
for  shows  and  fun,  for  love-making  and  money-mak 
ing,  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  day.  No  one  could  re 
member  when  Bartholomew's  fair  did  not  begin 
there  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day;  and  no  one  could 
remember  when  the  doings  on  the  fair's  first  day  — 
archery,  vaulting,  wrestling,  morris-dancing,  and 
bear-baiting  —  were  not  witnessed  by  the  Lord 
Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  London,  by  lords  and 
by  ladies,  and  by  the  ambassadors  from  foreign 
courts. 

It  was,  therefore,  but  a  matter  of  course,  that 
these  dignitaries  were  there  when  the  fair  opened 

1  Stow's  Survey  of  London,  18,  144.  2  Fuller,  Bk.  VH.  p.  390. 


CH.  VII.]  THE  EEFORMATION  RESTORED.  155 

on  the  24th  of  August,  1559.1  Handsome  galleries, 
whence  they  could  have  full  view  of  all  that  passed, 
and  which  were  hung  with  wreaths  and  festoons 
of  flowers  mingled  with  evergreens,  had  been 
erected  for  them  against  the  church  wall;  while 
the  respectable  commoners  were  provided  with  rude 
forms  conveniently  arranged  just  beneath  the  gal 
leries.  Merry-andrews  and  mercers,  jugglers,  Jews, 
and  jockeys,  lackeys,  light-o '-hearts,  and  leal  lovers, 
bull-dogs,  bears,  and  brawny  yeomen,  had  been  busy 
as  bees  three  hours  or  more,  when,  just  as  a  maimed 
wrestler  was  borne  bleeding  from  the  ground,  trade 
and  merriment  were  arrested  by  the  long  blast  of 
a  bugle,  and  all  eyes  turned  toward  the  centre  of 
the  green. 

One  man  stood  there  alone,  plainly  dressed  in 
smock  and  hose,  a  dagger  in  his  girdle,  a  sprig  of 
holly  in  his  cap,  a  burning  torch  in  his  hand,  and 
a  pile  of  billets  and  furze  fagots  by  his  side.  As 
the  bugler  wound  his  last  note,  the  great  door  of 
the  church,  before  which  had  just  gathered  a  party 
of  horsemen,  was  thrown  open,  and  gave  passage 
to  some  forty  or  fifty  well-dressed  burghers,  each 
laden  with  the  spoils  of  Popery  stripped  from  the 
church  and  from  neighboring  chapels,  shrines,  and 
convents.  As  they  made  their  appearance  and 
moved  under  escort  of  the  cavaliers,  —  all  wearing 
badges  of  living  green,  —  the  whole  multitude  gave 
a  pealing  shout  of  welcome.  The  torch-bearer 
lighted  the  pile ;  and  while  the  queen's  commis 
sioners  and  they  who  bore  the  trophies  were  pass 
ing  the  short  intervening  space,  it  had  come  to 

1  Camden,  21.     Holingshed,  IV.  185.     Strype's  Grindal,  Bk.  I.  ch.  3. 


156  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  [Cn.  VII. 

blaze  and  crackle  merrily.  As  each  burgher  reached 
the  fire,  he  cast  his  burden  beside  it,  "the  people 
looking  on  with  great  wonder"  and  glee.  The 
executioner,  if  we  may  so  call  him,  during  this 
performance  went  through  a  variety  of  pantomime, 
expressive  of  disgust,  horror,  contempt,  and  hate, 
for  the  objects  thrown  at  his  feet.  It  wras  a  mot 
ley  pile,  and,  for  a  burnt-offering,  a  strange  one ;  — 
tables,  shrine-coverings,  trindals,  rolls  of  wax,  saints 
big  and  little,  fragments  of  altars,  Popish  books,  sur 
plices,  and  copes,  banners,  altar-cloths,  rood-cloths, 
and  crucifixes.  The  solitary  official  now  commenced 
his  task,  taking  the  several  objects  from  the  pile  and 
throwing  them  one  by  one  upon  the  flames,  with  the 
same  variety  of  grimaces  and  contortions  with  which 
he  had  received  them.  At  each  immolation  the 
people  shouted ;  but  they  seemed  to  have  a  special 
antipathy  to  the  Eoods,  —  images  of  Christ  on  the 
cross  with  Mary  and  John  standing  by,  —  for  when 
ever  one  of  these  was  thrown  upon  the  fire,  their 
shouts  were  redoubled  and  prolonged.  Such  was 
the  first  burning  of  Popish  relics  by  the  queen's 
commissioners,  in  obedience  to  the  twenty-third 
article  of  her  injunctions;  "making  atonement,  as 
it  were,  for  the  many  holy  men  and  holy  women 
that  were  not  long  before  roasted  to  death  there." 
During  the  whole,  "such  were  the  shoutings  and 
applause  of  the  vulgar  sort,  as  if  it  had  been  the 
sacking  of  some  hostile  city."1 

During  the  hour  of  this  bloodless  revenge  upon 
a  priesthood  so  lately  officiating  at  human  sacri 
fices, —  this  revenge  so  keenly  relished  by  an  out- 

1  Hayward,  28.     Strype's  Grindal,  25  ;  Annals,  I.  260. 


CH.  VIL]  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  157 

raged  people,  —  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the 
brilliant  assemblage  in  the  galleries.  Among  them 
was  one  remarkable  for  his  handsome  person,  his 
majestic  mien,  and  his  graceful  manners.1  He 
seemed  to  be  about  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He 
was  looking  at  the  burning  with  a  listless  air,  strik 
ingly  in  contrast  with  that  of  his  companions.  A 
massive  plume  bent  from  his  cap  of  embroidered 
velvet,  to  which  it  was  buttoned  by  a  single  mag 
nificent  diamond.  Upon  his  shoulders,  and  also 
fastened  by  a  brilliant,  hung  loosely  a  riding-cloak 
of  silk  tissue,  —  evidently  more  for  ornament  than 
use,  and  by  no  means  concealing  the  rich  dress 
becoming  a  courtier.  He  wore  at  his  side  a  light 
sword  and  a  diminutive  dagger.  During  the  whole 
morning  he  had  been  overwhelmed  with  attentions 
by  those  around  him.  The  ladies  were  rivals  for 
his  notice;  and  not  one  of  them  had  addressed 
him  without  the  reward  of  a  smile  so  expressive, 
and  words  so  delicately  flattering,  as  to  raise  com 
motion  at  her  heart.  But  now,  as  if  wearied  with 
gallantry,  he  had  risen  from  his  seat,  and  was  lean 
ing  carelessly  against  the  rear  of  the  gallery,  or, 
more  strictly  speaking,  the  wall  of  the  church.  Sud 
denly  his  eye  turned  from  that  which  was  engross 
ing  all  others ;  and  after  looking  briefly  but  intently 
at  some  object  which  had  attracted  his  attention, 
he  glided  a  step  or  two  toward  the  open  window 
which  served  as  a  door  to  the  gallery,  where  stood 
a  man  evidently  of  the  gentry,  though  in  unpre 
tending  attire.  The  latter  instantly,  and  somewhat 
obsequiously  advanced. 

1  Hume,  III.  13. 


158         THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.      [On.  VII. 

"Varney  !  "  whispered  the  courtier,  "my  heart 
yearneth  toward  one  here." 

Master  Varney  bowed,  and  turned  a  vivid  look  of 
inquiry  toward  the  coterie  of  ladies. 

"Nay,  nay,  my  brave  goshawk!"  said  the  other, 
"the  quarry  is  not  there.  Turn  thine  eye  out  of 
door,  man.  Dost  see  yon  booth  with  the  tapster's 
lure  swinging  over  it,  —  a  pine  bush  ?  " 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

"  It  were  fit,  I  ween,  that  some  devout  man,  like 
Kichard  Varney,  Gentleman,  did  stand  in  the  way 
over  against  it,  to  warn  the  simple  and  unwary  to 
beware  butt  and  pottle-pot " ;  - —  and  he  looked  with 
a  mock  gravity  at  his  esquire. 

"Alack,  alack,  my  lord!  Bashfulness,  —  bashful- 
ness  !  It  be  my  foot's  fetter,  my  hand's  gyve,  my 
tongue's  palsy,  my  fortune's  bane,  my  ambition's 
nightmare,  —  saving  only  in  your  lordship's  service, 
wherein,  methinks,  I  be  nor  cripple  nor  laggard." 

"  Now  out  upon  thee,  for  one  of  nature's  contradic 
tions  !  a  mute  babbler !  a  bashful  braggart !  Thou 
wouldst  be  a  godsend  to  a  showman  at  a  groat  a 
sight.  But  lo !  nor  thine  eloquence  nor  mine  is 
needful  yonder.  For  this  present,  Yarney,  we  be 
forestalled.  The  two  in  gown  and  cap  in  the  yew's 
shade  are  more  valiant  exhorters  than  we,  an  I  be 
not  at  fault.  To  my  thinking,  they  must  have  the 
odor  of  sanctity,  for  they  wear  the  true  aspect  of 
Gospellers.1  Now,  Sir  Diffidence,  thou  canst  surely 

1  "  These  men  "  —  Zwinglians  or  pellers,  for  making  their   new  doc- 

Calvinists  —  "  are  called  in  Bishop  trine  such  a  necessary  part  of  our 

Hooper's  Preface  to  the  Ten  Com-  Saviour's   Gospel,  as  if  men  could 

mandments  by  the  name  of  Gos-  not  possibly  be  saved  without  it. 


CH.  VII.]  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  159 

devise  some  cunning  shift  to  find  them  out ;  who,  — 
whence,  —  and  so  forth.  I  tell  thee  my  heart  yearn- 
eth  towards  them;  most  towards  the  ancient  one, 
in  whose  face  methinks  I  see  something  not  unfamil 
iar.  An  he  be  a  Gospeller,  it  concerneth  me  to  know 
it,  for  he  hath  no  less  the  look  of  a  man  of  stamp 
and  mould,  than  of  years  and  godliness.  Mark  his 
form,  —  wan  and  slender,  albeit  straight  as  a  wood 
man's  shaft !  And  what  a  brow !  Threescore  years 
and  ten  there  ;  but  there  be  manhood  yet.  By  my 
halidom!  I  would  salute  such  an  one  in  nomine 
Domini!  Hasten,  good  Varney!" 

The  esquire  performed  his  errand  with  alacrity; 
but,  for  modesty's  sake,  by  proxy.  His  report,  how 
ever,  was  cut  short  almost  at  the  first  word,  for  the 
gallant  lord  was  appealed  to  at  the  instant  in  a  hot 
dispute  between  a  court  beau  and  a  court  belle, 
whether  the  crossing  of  two  lines  on  the  palm  of  her 
beautiful  hand  did  betoken  her  of  the  Romish  re 
ligion  or  no.  Before  this  grave  question  could  be 
settled,  the  burning  upon  the  green  was  over;  the 
people  were  resuming  their  pastimes ;  and  the  com 
pany  in  the  galleries  were  in  all  the  bustle  of 
departure. 

Their  cavalcade,  brilliant  with  beauty  and  rich 
array,  was  soon  in  motion,  and  took  leave  —  the 
ladies  mounted  upon  side-saddles  —  amid  the  huzzas 
of  the  rustic  multitude.1  But  rank  must  pay  its 


These  doctrines  they  began  to  prop-  Hist,  of  the  Presbyterians,  Bk.  VI. 

agate  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward ;  Sec.  9. 

but  never   were   so  busy  at  it  as  *  There  is  a  paragraph  in  Hume 

when    they   lived    at    Geneva,    or  which  may  properly  be  noticed  in 

came     newly    thence."  —  Heylin's  this  connection.     He  says :  "  About 


160 


THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED. 


[CH.  VII. 


penalties ;  and  they  were  constrained,  as  they  came 
home  through  Cheapside,  to  afford  their  presence  at 
two  other  "  great  fires  in  the  street/'  —  one  against 
Ironmonger  Lane,  and  the  other  against  Mercer's 


1580,  the  use  of  coaches  was  intro 
duced  by  the  Earl  of  Arundel. 
Before  that  time,  the  queen,  on 
public  occasions,  rode  behind  her 
chamberlain."  (Vol.  HI.  265,  Ap 
pendix  III.)  This  in  its  connection 
seems  to  ignore  the  use  of  side 
saddles.  Stow  tells  us  that  riding 
upon  side-saddles  was  introduced 
by  Richard  II.  upon  occasion  of  his 
marriage  in  1382.  (Survey  of  Lon 
don,  132.)  D'Ewes  says  (p.  59) 
that  the  queen  went  to  the  Parlia 
ment-House  in  1562-3,  "on  horse 
back,  a  little  behind  the  Lord  Cham 
berlain  " ;  an  expression  without  the 
ambiguity  of  that  of  Hume.  Nine 
years  before  1580,  the  queen  rode  to 
Parliament  in  her  coach.  (D'Ewes, 
136.) 

I  have  another  object  in  here 
citing  Hume.  That  "the  use  of 
coaches  was  introduced  by  the  Earl 
of  Arundel  about  1580,"  is  not  only 
an  error,  but  I  think  it  appears  how 
Anderson,  singularly  enough,  fell 
into  it.  (Hume  refers  to  Anderson 
for  his  authority ;  and  Anderson 
indeed  says  so.)  The  Earl  of  Arun 
del  died  in  1580,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  sixty-nine  years.  Camden 
records  his  death,  under  that  date, 
in  his  text,  on  page  256  ;  where,  in 
the  margin,  are  the  words,  "The 
death  of  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  who 
first  brought  the  use  of  coaches 
into  England."  Anderson  has  prob 
ably  mistaken  a  marginal  note  which 
points  backward  as  stating  a  fact  of 


1580  ;  and  Hume  has  followed  him 
too  trustfully.  Lingard  misreads 
Camden's  note  in  the  same  strange 
way;  and,  what  is  more  singular, 
recognizes  it  as  a  note  (Vol.  VH. 
305,  note). 

Stow,  who  lived  in  Elizabeth's 
day,  and  to  whom  Hume  often 
refers,  says:  "In  the  year  1564, 
Guilliam  Boonen,  a  Dutchman,  be 
came  the  queen's  coachman,  and 
was  the  first  that  brought  the  use 
of  coaches  into  England."  (Annals, 
867,  868.)  Probably  Arundel  in 
troduced  both  the  Dutchman  and 
the  coach. 

The  chariot,  or  whirlicote,  was  a 
different  vehicle  ;  used  both  by 
Elizabeth  (Strype's  Annals,  I.  408, 
409,  folio  edit.  273)  and  by  her 
sister  Mary  (Strype's  Memorials,  V. 
498,  508,  folio  edit.  304).  It  was  an 
ancient  carriage.  (Stow's  Survey, 
131,  132.) 

Elizabeth  probably  went  to  her 
first  Parliament  in  her  barge,  though 
I  find  no  record  of  it ;  to  the 
second,  in  1562-3,  on  horseback, 
as  above  stated.  The  Parliament 
of  1566  was  the  same  as  that  of 
1562-3.  Of  course,  it  resumed  busi 
ness  without  the  attendance  of  the 
queen  in  person.  The  first  time, 
therefore,  that  she  opened  a  Parlia 
ment  after  1564,  she  went  to  the 
House  "in  the  ancient  accustomed 
and  most  honorable  passage,"  and 
in  Tier  coach.  (D'Ewes,  136.)  It  is 
singular  that  Hume  should  have 


CH.  VII.]  THE  KEFOEMATION  RESTORED.  161 

Chapel,  —  "  wherein  were  thrown  a  great  number  of 
roods  with  the  images  of  John  and  Mary,  and  the 
resemblances  of  divers  other  saints."  1 

But  St.  Bartholomew's  festival  did  not  end  with 
the  day.  Nor  did  the  light ;  for  no  sooner  had  the 
sun  gone  down,  than  the  city  was  bright  with  a 
thousand  fires.  Lighted  at  irregular  intervals  along 
the  streets,  throwing  a  flickering  glare  here,  casting 
deep  shadows  there,  shooting  up  wavy  pillars  of 
smoke,  which  slowly  rose,  expanded,  and  commingled 
till  they  became  a  canopy,  they  created  an  exciting 
picture  of  wild  and  animated  contrasts.  Yet  the 
chief  interest  of  the  scene  was  beneath ;  in  the  vast- 
ness,  the  surging,  the  perpetual  voice,  of  that  stream 
of  human  life  which  eddied  along  the  streets.  I  am 
not  sure  that  there  was  not  something  there  which 
the  Eye  to  whom  darkness  and  light  are  both  alike 
smiled  upon  and  blessed.  There  was  good  cheer 
there,  of  meats  and  drinks,  upon  the  scores  of  tables 
which  encircled  every  fire ;  but  I  do  not  mean  that. 
There  was  cordial  greeting  there  between  neighbor 
and  neighbor  at  ordinary  times  next-door  strangers ; 
but  I  do  not  mean  that.  There  was  large-hearted 
generosity  there,  which  met  every  passer-by,  known 
or  unknown,  gentle  or  simple,  in  gay  clothing  or  in 
rags,  full  or  famishing,  and  led  him  with  heart  and 

overlooked,  or  rather  by  implication  fog  or  mist  of  tobacco."  (Knight's 

contradicted,  a  fact  which  D'Ewes  London,  I.  25.)  In  1601,  Nov.  7, 

has  conspicuously  noticed.  a  bill  was  brought  into  the  House 

Some  time  after  the  coach  came  of  Lords  to  restrain  the  excessive 

into  use,  for  some  reason  there  arose  use  of  coaches  ;  was  read  the  second 

a  prejudice  against  it ;  and  the  time,  and  rejected.  (D'Ewes,  602.) 

question  was  raised,  "  whether  the  l  Holingshed,  IV.  185.  Strype's 

Devil  brought  tobacco  into  England  Annals,  I.  254.  Strype's  Grindal, 

in  a  coach,  or  brought  a  coach  in  a  25. 

VOL.  i.  21 


162         THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.      [Cn.  VII. 

courtesy  to  fellowship  at  its  own  board  of  repast,  tell 
ing  him  to  sit  there  and  be  merry,  to  eat  there  and 
praise  God ;  but  I  do  not  mean  that.  There  was  a 
larger,  nobler  mission  going  on ;  for  here  and  there 
you  might  have  seen  two  men  at  bitter  feud  sought 
out  and  brought  together  by  mediators,  who  in 
quired  and  reasoned  and  explained  and  pleaded,  and 
would  not  cease  importunity,  or  restrain  tears,  until 
the  two  had  embraced,  sat  down  to  eat  and  drink 
together,  exchanged  forgiveness,  and  parted  cove 
nant  friends,  —  redeemed  from  a  bitter  curse.  It 
was  this  mission  of  reconciliation  —  a  mission  carried 
on  that  night  through  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  city,  a  mission  in  the  likeness  and  spirit  of  that 
which  made  angels  sing  at  Bethlehem  —  which  I 
think  God  did  smile  upon  there,  and  after  reward 
in  heaven. 

Such  were  the  customs  long,  long  ago  in  good 
Old  England,  on  the  close  of  festival  days.1 

The  night  was  far  spent.  The  people  had  dis 
persed.  The  poor  had  gone  to  bed  not  hungry  •  and 
men  who  had  woke  at  strife  were  sleeping  at  peace. 
But  Lord  Kobert  Dudley  —  in  his  princely  chamber 
with  its  tapestry  of  Flanders,  its  Moorish  carpet  of 
arabesque  designs,  its  blaze  of  light,  and  its  delicate 
perfume  of  burning  oil  —  kept  vigil.  He  was  the 
young  son  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  (first  the 
Earl  of  Warwick)  beheaded  for  his  attempt  to  place 

1  The  street  fire  was  the  central  ing,  the  scholars  of  the  day  coined 

point  of  the  good  will,  &ene-volence, —  the  word  &on-fire  ;  or,  as  they  wrote 

of  which  at-one-ment  was  the  chief  it,  &o-ne-fire,  —  from  the  French  bon, 

form,  —  which   characterized  these  or  the  Latin   bonus.       See    Stow's 

festivals.     To  express  fully  its  mean-  Survey,  159. 


CH.  VIL]  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  16 


Q 


Lady  Jane  Grey  upon  the  throne.  Dudley,  attainted 
for  his  complicity  in  the  same  treason,  had  been 
restored  to  rank  and  fortune  by  Mary  in  1557.1 
Upon  presenting  himself  at  the  Court  of  Elizabeth, 
he  had  been  received  with  marked  favor,  and  with 
such  unmistakable  indications  of  admiration  as  to 
excite  in  him  the  most  aspiring  and  intoxicating 
ambition.2  The  virgin  monarch  seemed  as  though 
she  would  have  welcomed  him  to  the  nuptial  vow 
if  she  could.  But  there  was  a  wife,  —  young,  lovely, 
trusting,  —  his  only  seeming  barrier  to  the  proudest 
station  in  the  realm.  We  will  not  say  that  at  this 
time  the  damning  purpose  of  her  murder  was 
formed ;  but  it  was  forming,  for  the  thought  of  her 
as  the  obstacle,  and  yet  the  innocent  and  loving 
obstacle,  to  his  ambition,  was  sometimes  maddening. 
When  alone,  as  now,  he  would  walk  to  and  fro,  and 
think,  and  think,  —  thoughts  lashing  passions  to  a 
tempest,  and  passion  bestirring  thought,  —  until  the 
conflict  became  fearful  suffering.  The  scorpion  can 
sting  itself — to  death.  At  one  moment,  Amy  would 
be  imaged  in  his  mind's  eye,  with  her  pure  love,  her 
sweet  smile,  her  childlike  trust,  her  artless  beauty,  her 
transparent  heart ;  and  then,  the  magnificent  daugh 
ter  of  Henry,  luring  him  to  her  side,  her  station,  and 
her  power.  He  was  a  caged  eagle,  eying  his  mate 
on  the  wing  aloft,  clutching  and  biting  his  chain, 
chafing  against  his  bars,  and  cursing  the  memory 
of  his  folly  and  the  hour  of  his  captivity.  With 
neither  God  nor  man  for  a  confidant;  with  neither 
God  nor  man  nor  principle  for  counsellor;  nay, 
with  God  and  humanity  and  honor  and  conscience 

1  Burnet,  II.  562.  2  Lingard,  VII.  305. 


164         THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.     [Cn.  VII. 

doing  battle  with  him,  —  it  was  terrible  to  be  alone 
and  think.  But  he  would.  He  had  been  so  now, 
for  hours;  for  hours  he  had  thought;  for  hours  he 
had  breasted  this  strife.  He  could  no  longer  bear  it. 
Snatching  from  his  toilet  a  small  silver  bell,  he  rang 
it  nervously,  wiped  the  perspiration  from  his  brow, 
and  resumed  his  walk. 

"  Zounds  !  the  knave  sleepeth ! "  he  exclaimed  after 
a  few  moments.  Then,  striding  to  the  door  and 
opening  it,  "  Ho  there,  Varney  ! " 

"  Pardon,  my  lord ! "  stammered  the  confused 
chamberlain  as  he  entered  with  a  low  reverence. 

"  Overmuch  wine,  hey  ?  " 

"  Upon  my  word,  nay,  my  lord.  But  Nature  will 
have  her  dues." 

"  I  would  rest,"  said  Dudley,  tartly ;  and,  throwing 
himself  upon  a  chair  of  crimson  velvet,  without  fur 
ther  word  he  submitted  himself  to  the  offices  of  the 
gentleman-dependent  who  had  followed  his  fortunes 
for  years.  But  hardly  had  his  hose  been  loosened 
when  he  said,  "  Hold,  Varney ;  a  cup  of  Theologi- 
cum.1  An  thou  hast  some  gentle  drug  to  provoke 
sleep,  add  it  to  the  draught.  Court  cares  gender 
thoughts;  and  thoughts,  wakefulness." 

The  gentleman  of  the  chamber  was  in  the  act  of 
closing  the  heavy  curtains  of  the  bed,  when  his  lord, 

1  "  The  stronger  the  wine  is,  the  drinke  nor  be  serued  of  the  worst, 

more  it  is  desired,  by  means  whereof  or  such  as  was  anie  waies  mingled 

in   old    time    the   best  was   called  or  brued  by  the  vintner :  naie,  the 

Theologicum,    bicause   it   was   had  merchant  would  have  thought  that 

from  the  cleargie  and  religious  men,  his  soule  should  have  gone  straight- 

vnto  whose    houses  manie   of  the  waie  to  the  diuell  if  he  should  have 

laitie  would  often  send  for  bottels  serued  them  with  other   than  the 

filled  with  the  same,  being  sure  that  best."  —  Harrison,  281,  282,  in  Vol. 

they  " — the  clergy — "  would  neither  I.  of  Holingshed. 


CH.  VII]  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  165 

rising  from  the  pillow,  exclaimed,  "  Varney !  me- 
thinks  I  gave  shrewd  guess  at  Clerkenwell  to-day! 
One  of  the  most  noted,  godly,  long-headed  of  the 
whole  college  of  clergy !  A  bishop  to  boot,  —  or 
hath  been,  which  is  all  the  same.  I  marvel  that  I 
remembered  not  one  I  saw  often  in  my  noble  father's 
day.  But  I  have  a  purpose  for  which  I  would  know 
him  now.  I  would  win  his  ear,  and  withal  his  good 
faith,  an  I  may.  Bestir  thy  wits  for  our  acquaint 
anceship,  for  he  cometh  not  to  the  court,  and  I 
would  our  meeting  should  seem  a  happening ;  a 
thing  by  cha — providence ;  that  is  the  Genevan 
phrase.  What  think  you?" 

"An  you  ask  mine  honest  thought,  my  lord,  it 
seemeth  a  matter  which  needeth  not  the  bestirring 
of  any  one's  wits.  Summon  him;  he  cometh.  Go 
to  him;  he  appeareth." 

"  Nay ;  an  I  seem  to  seek  him,  he  may  suspect  a 
purpose,  and  be  chary  of  his  thoughts.  I  would 
probe  the  man.  An  he  seem  one  of  fit  stufi^  I  may 
use  him,  —  make  him  an  ally  offensive  and  defensive. 
Hey,  Varney?" 

"  Probe  him,  my  lord !  you  had  best,  lest  you  run 
your  barge  upon  the  rocks.  Probe  him !  you  may 
do  it  with  the  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  thou 
sandth  of  the  least  of  all  things.  There  be  nothing 
in  him  to  probe." 

"  Now  fie  upon  thee  for  a  simpleton,  Varney !  an 
thou  be  not  talking  in  riddles.  Beshrew  thee,  man, 
what  meanest  thou?" 

"My  lord,  I  mean  that  he  is  as  open-hearted  and 
guileless  as  a  child,  and  therefore  unsuspicious.  The 
best  coin  with  him  is  straightforwardness.  As  for 


166  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  [Cn.  VIL 

the  other  matter,  offensive  he  will  not  be,  defensive 
he  cannot  be." 

u  He  is  a  knowing  old  man,  you  told  me  so  your 
self;  and  since  I  find  who  he  is,  I  know  well  what 
he  is." 

"He  is  all  you  say,  my  lord.  Besides,  he  hath 
lived  under  no  less  than  five  sovereigns  of  England, 
counting  our  gracious  Mistress  Elizabeth,  whom 
Heaven  long  preserve  and  bless !  " 

"  Amen ! " 

66  He  is  skilled  in  the  sacred  tongues ;  hath  trans 
lated  the  whole  Bible ;  hath  been  a  bishop  •  hath 
been  in  prison ;  hath  been  in  exile ;  hath  been  in 
many  kingdoms  ;  hath  been  in  royal  courts.  Were 
I  the  Lord  Robert  Dudley,  the  admiration  of  all  this 
should  allow  me  no  rest  until  I  did  stand  on  his 
threshold  and  crave  the  honor  —  and  the  favor  — 
and  so  forth." 

"  Which  for  one  of  my  station  to  do,  would  be 
translated,  'He  hath  some  end  of  policy  to  com 
pass  ' ;  the  very  verity  which  I  would  he  should  not 
read." 

"  Nay,  nay,  my  lord ;  but  natural  it  would  seem, 
and  commendable.  Age  expecteth  deference  from 
youth,  and  hath  a  right  to  it  from  the  greatest, 
maugre  whatever  pertaineth  to  it  of  humbleness  or 
poverty.  Besides,  courtesy  from  the  Lord  Dudley 
would  not  seem  strange  to  him.  He  hath  received 
it  often  enough,  I  trow,  from  lords  and  dukes  and 
kings  and  queens. 

"  Varney  !  I  know  thee  for  a  shrewd  fellow  ;  and 
so  will  weigh  thy  counsel.  But  now  I  would  fain 
sleep.  Another  draught  will  soothe  me  like  a  lul 
laby." 


CH.  VII.1  THE  REFORMATION  RESTORED.  167 

He  quaffed  the  wine,  and  dropped  upon  the  pillow. 
The  curtains  were  closed,  and  Varney  was  retiring, 
when  Dudley  called,  "  Heigh-ho  !  " 

"My  lord?" 

"  My  Lord  North  hath  converted  me."  l 

The  gentleman  bowed  from  habit,  though  screened 
by  the  curtains  of  the  bed. 

"Dost  not  comprehend,  sirrah?" 

"  Marry !  it  exceedeth  mine  understanding  how 
the  Lord  Eobert  Dudley  could  need  conversion." 

"  Dolt !  Be  not  Papistry  heresy  ?  Hath  not  the 
new  Church  lands  and  revenues  more  than  is  meet  ? 
The  Lord  Dudley,  thy  master,  is  a  Gospeller ! " 

"  May  the  Gospel  sink  into  my  lord's  heart !  "  said 
the  chamberlain  with  a  shrug.  "  Ladies  of  the  court 
will  be  saved  from  sighing,  and  husbands  from 
wearing  horns." 

"  Hist,  fellow !  I  tell  thee  I  be  a  Gospeller,  now ; 
and  thou  must  help  me  to  act  my  calling.  Find  out 
ivJiat  it  is  these  Genevans  would  make  a  stir  about. 
Something  about  the  Book,  I  know ;  something  about 
phylacteries,  I  trow." 

"Yes,  my  lord." 

"  Hold  !  you  must  glean  for  me  a  pretty  list  of — 
of  Gospel  words  —  and  —  and  —  things."  His  voice 
fell  to  a  murmur ;  and  sleep  came  to  still  his  inward 
strife. 

1  Lloyd,  520. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   ESTABLISHMENT. 

PAUL'S  CROSS.— FATHER  COVERDALE. — DAVID  WHITEHEAD. —  SUNDAY  TRAFFIC. 

—  THE  CHANGES  IN  THE  LITURGY.  —  SIR  FRANCIS  KNOLLYS.  —  ROBERT,  LORD 
DUDLEY.  —  THE  QUEEN'S  TENDERNESS  FOR  PAPACY.  —  HER  REASONS  FOR  IT. 

—  HER  DISLIKE  OF  THE  FRANKFORT  EXILES,  HOW  EXCITED.  —  "  SEMPER  EA- 
DEM."  —  THE  DISLIKE  OF  THE  VESTMENTS,  AND  OF  THE  SUPREMACY.  —  THE 
POSITION  OF  KKOLLYS  AND  DUDLEY.  —  THE  NEW  HIERARCHY.  —  THE  "  OLD 
PRIESTS."  —  SCARCITY  OF  CLERGY. 

1559. 

NEARLY  in  the  centre  of  St.  Paul's  churchyard 
stood  a  unique  structure,  long  used  as  the  nucleus 
of  public  assemblies,  —  a  stone  platform  of  moderate 
dimensions,  elevated  sufficiently  for  the  purposes  of 
harangue,  and  innocent  of  all  adornment.  It  was 
accessible  by  stone  steps,  and  surmounted  by  a  pul 
pit  of  timber  in  the  form  of  a  cross  and  covered 
with  lead.  Around  this  venerable  structure  many 
a  crowd  had  been  gathered,  from  time  immemorial ; 
now  inflamed  by  words  of  sedition,  and  again  by 
appeals  to  loyalty;  now  listening  to  a  panegyric, 
and  again  to  a  philippic;  now,  to  the  publishing 
of  a  law,  and  again  to  the  administering  of  an  oath ; 
now,  to  a  wheedling  demagogue,  and  now  to  the 
voice  of  prayer. 

If  a  frolicsome  girl  had  scared  people,  by  pre 
tending  to  have  Satan  in  her,  and  by  acting  as  if 
she  had,  and  was  detected,  they  made  her  stand 
here  on  a  Sunday  before  the  preacher,  and  own  that 


CH.  VHL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  169 

she  did  it  for  fun,  and  say  that  she  was  sorry,  and 
wanted  to  be  forgiven  and  to  be  prayed  for.  In 
Protestant  times,  if  a  Romish  priest,  to  escape  pun 
ishment,  would  abjure  his  heresy,  they  made  him  do 
it  here,  after  having  stood  before  the  preacher  all 
the  sermon-time  with  a  fagot  on  his  back. 

Such  were  some  of  the  uses  of  Paul's  Cross, — 
so  called.  But  it  had  ever  been  chiefly  appropriated 
by  the  clergy.  It  had  stood  there  at  least  three 
hundred  years,  —  "  the  most  noted  and  solemn  place 
in  the  nation  for  the  gravest  divines  and  the  greatest 
scholars  to  preach  at."  WicklifF  had  preached  from 
it ;  and  so  had  his  persecutors.  So  had  Brad- 
wardine  and  Tyndal ;  the  bloody  Bonner,  and  his 
yoke-fellow  Gardiner ;  and  Rogers,  and  Hooper,  and 
Cranmer,  —  all  of  whom  Bonner  and  Gardiner  had 
burned  at  the  stake.  It  was  at  last  completely 
destroyed  in  1643,  by  order  of  Parliament. 

As  soon  as  the  Protestant  religion  was  restored 
by  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  most  eminent  Protestant 
divines  were  appointed  to  occupy  this  pulpit  on 
Sundays,  where  they  preached  to  immense  assem 
blies,  including  the  dignitaries  of  Church  and  city, 
the  queen  and  her  nobles.1 

The  usual  services  had  just  been  concluded  there 
on  the  12th  of  November,  1559.  The  preacher,2  a 
venerable  man  of  seventy-two  years,  was  well  known, 
not  only  for  his  piety  and  learning,  but  for  his  in 
tegrity  and  fortitude  during  a  long  life  of  vicissitude, 

1  Stow's  Annals,  678.    Stow's  Sur-  Neal,  I.  455.     Leigh's  View  of  Lon- 

vey,   123,   124,  note,  Thorn's  Lon-  don. 

don  edit.   1842.     Strype's  Grindal,  2  Strype's  Grindal,  27.     Strype's 

26,  27.      Strype's    Annals,  I.  300.  Annals,  I.  200. 

VOL.  I.  22 


170  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

peril,  and  hardship.  Many  high  in  office  and  rank 
had  therefore  gathered  to  hear  him.  As  soon  as 
he  had  uttered  the  last  words  of  the  service,  the 
whole  congregation  joined  in  a  song  of  praise  to 
God.  Six  thousand  voices,  "  of  old  and  young,  of 
both  sexes,"  swelling  in  harmony  and  fervent  in  their 
praise,  —  how  grand  the  chorus  !  "  It  sadly  annoyed 
the  Mass-priests  and — the  Devil."1  When  the  peo 
ple  had  mostly  dispersed,  the  venerable  preacher 
descended  from  the  pulpit.  He  wore  no  surplice ; 
only  a  long  black  gown  over  a  plain  black  suit. 
His  face  was  by  no  means  classic ;  rather  rough  than 
otherwise,  as  if  by  long  and  harsh  exposure  ;  and  his 
iron-gray  hair  lay  in  scant  and  wiry  tufts.  But  there 
was  such  a  light  of  peacefulness  and  benevolence 
about  his  lips,  beaming  in  his  clear  blue  eye,  and 
softening  every  homely  feature,  that  one  could  not 
help  being  drawn  toward  him,  lovingly  and  trustfully. 
Yet  with  all  his  look  of  mildness,  he  had  that  also  of 
decision,  firmness,  and  courage,  which  repelled  all 
idea  of  his  being  moved  to  anything  which  might 
conflict  either  with  his  reason  or  his  conscience. 
Though  he  had  not  the  strong,  confident  movement 
of  vigorous  life,  yet  he  descended  with  a  step  betray 
ing  no  infirmity.  He  was  met  on  the  ground  by 
a  man  somewhat  past  the  prime  of  life,  wearing 
the  square  cap  and  the  gown  of  the  clergy,  who 
said,  saluting  him  with  marked  deference,  "  May  God 
long  spare  thee,  good  father,  to  preach  the  words  of 
truth  and  soberness." 

The  old  man  returned  his  salutation  with  a  bright 
smile,  which  faded,  however,  into  a  look  of  placid 

1  Zurich  Letters,  No.  XL V. ;  Jewel  to  P.  Martyr. 


CH.  VIII.]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  171 

gravity  as  he  heard  the  words.  He  did  not  at  once 
reply;  and  when  he  did,  he  said  quietly,  "As  the 
Lord  willeth.  It  is  not  for  Myles  Coverdale  to  eschew 
or  to  covet  a  greater  length  of  days.  While  I  live, 
an  the  Lord  please,  I  would  preach  his  Word.  Albeit 
I  misdoubt,  Master  Whitehead,  lest  my  mouth  be 
closed  before  my  days." 

As  he  spake  the  last  words,  he  looked  at  his  com 
panion  keenly.  They  were  just  without  the  four 
chains  which  compassed  the  churchyard ; l  and  here 
their  routes  diverged.  But  Master  Whitehead,  read 
ing  the  meaning  of  Father  Coverdale's  look,  checked 
his  step  as  he  was  about  to  turn,  saying,  "  Would  I 
might  have  thine  ear,  good  father,  touching  the 
matters  thy  words  point  at !  Prithee !  let  me  to 
thine  house." 

"With  all  my  heart;  albeit  the  place  be  not 
tempting." 

"It  is  only  Father  Coverdale  I  want." 

"Come  then." 

But  instead  of  proceeding,  the  venerable  man,  at 
that  moment  having  turned  his  eye  toward  the 
churchyard,  stood  still,  and  exclaimed  in  tones  of 
indignation  and  grief:  "  0  Mammon !  Mammon ! 
thou  hast  ever  shown  a  spite  to  poor  old  Myles, 
and  hast  grudged  him  thy  meanest  dole.  But  now 
thou  hast  come  to  grudging  him  his  trade, — persuad 
ing  men  !  and  dost  beat  him  at  it  too  !  See,  Master 
Whitehead !  The  Devil  travelleth  in  the  preacher's 
wake,  scattering  tares  where  I  did  just  cast  God's 
seed  !  A  lawyer ;  notaries,  I  trow,  —  the  knaves  with 
inkhorn  and  tablets ;  a  Jew ;  and  there  come  scores 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  57. 


172  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

of  simpletons,  with  purses  and  dags  in  girdle,  to 
buy  and  to  sell,  to  gain  and  to  lose,  to  cheat  and 
be  cheated.  Now  they  will  walk  and  talk  and 
courtesy  and  smile ;  anon,  hear  and  tell  news ;  then 
to  business  and  payment  of  moneys,  and  sealing 
of  bonds,  and  such  like;  and,  last,  to  quarrelling 
and  fighting,  and  mayhap  to  rioting  and  letting 
blood!  All  on  ground  consecrated  to  God's  wor 
ship  and  the  resurrection !  1  Master  Whitehead  !  an 
you  have  influence  with  her  Majesty,  as  men  say, 
beseech  her  stop  this  profanation,  —  it  is  all  abroad 
in  the  kingdom.  She  doth  straitly  reform  religion ; 
prick  her  to  reforming  vice.  Come,"  hastily  leaning 
upon  Whitehead's  arm,  "let  us  away." 

So  saying,  he  turned  towards  his  temporary  home. 
As  their  discourse  concerned  only  the  churchyard 
scene,  we  leave  them  to  their  walk ;  merely  observ 
ing,  that  mercantile  gatherings  after  the  Sunday 
service,  and  often  attended  by  "  divers  outrageous 
and  unseemly  behaviors,  as  well  within  and  near 
the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul  as  in  divers  other 
churches  in  the  realm,2  were  not  uncommon,  even 
to  the  use  of  deadly  weapons ;  nor  did  the  majesty 
of  the  crown  interfere  for  their  suppression  until 
two  years  afterwards. 

Myles  Coverdale  —  from  respect  to  his  age  and 
character  commonly  called  Father  Coverdale  —  had 
translated  the  whole  Bible  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  and  had  been  a  cherished  intimate  of  Thomas 
Cromwell,  the  king's  vicar-general;  but  about  1540 
he  had  been  obliged  to  seek  safety  in  exile.  He  had 

1  Strype's     Grindal,     56,     209.         2  Queen's  Proclamation,  Oct.  30, 
Strype's  Annals,  I.  390.  1561. 


CH.  VIII.] 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


173 


been  one  of  the  chaplains  of  Edward  VI.;  and 
Bishop  of  Exeter,  from  1551  to  1553,  when  he  was 
deposed  and  imprisoned  by  Mary,  who  with  difficulty 
was  persuaded  by  the  king  of  Denmark  to  deny  him 
the  honors  of  the  stake,  which  she  commuted  for 
banishment.  Of  course  he  had  remained  in  exile 
until  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne,  at  which  time 
he  was  at  Geneva.  The  news  of  that  event  brought 
him  speedily  to  England.1 


1  In  his  youth  Myles  Coverdale 
entered  the  monastery  of  the  Au- 
gustines  at  Cambridge.  In  1514, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years,  he 
was  admitted  to  orders.  He  was 
one  of  the  many  young  men  of  the 
University  who  flocked  around  Doc 
tor  Robert  Barnes,  the  prior  of  the 
convent,  and  hailed  him  as  "  the 
restorer  of  letters"  when,  as  a 
mere  scholar,  he  lectured  upon 
Terence  and  Cicero,  or  poured 
forth  his  classic  eloquence  over  the 
letters  of  Saint  Paul.  With  still 
greater  eagerness  did  the  young 
monk  drink  in  the  words  of  the 
same  elegant  and  ardent  master, 
when  afterwards,  with  new  vision 
and  new  eloquence,  he  opened  the 
spiritual  treasures  of  the  Gospel. 
Bilney  and  Latimer  and  Stafford 
also  had  a  share  in  the  training 
of  his  mind  and  the  moulding  of 
his  heart,  when  the  several  Colleges 
of  the  University  were  in  a  fer 
ment  over  the  Greek  Testament 
of  Erasmus,  and  timid  students 
held  "gospel-meetings"  by  stealth 
at  the  sign  of  the  White  Horse. 
(Strype's  Parker,  6.)  And  after 
wards,  in  1526,  when  manor-house 
and  convent-cell,  shop  and  cottage, 
were  thronged  with  persons  study 


ing  Tyndal's  English  Testament, 
wondering  at  its  clearness,  its  eth 
ics,  and  its  glad  tidings, — when  the 
Universities  began  to  be  counted 
pest-houses  of  heresy  because  they 
too  harbored  Tyndal's  book,  —  Cov 
erdale  shared  in  the  general  en 
thusiasm,  and  sat  with  new-born 
gladness  at  the  feet  of  his  prior. 
And  when,  soon  after,  Barnes  was 
swooped  up  by  the  minions  of  Wol- 
sey,  and  heard  from  the  lips  of  the 
despotic  Cardinal,  "  You  must  be 
burned,"  Coverdale  was  one  of  three 
disciples  who  followed  him  on  his 
mournful  journey,  and  stayed  him 
in  his  days  of  trial.  After  this,  he 
abandoned  his  convent,  and  went 
about  as  a  missionary,  preaching  an 
evangelical  reformation. 

We  have  no  trace  of  him  from 
1528  to  1535,  except  that  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  1529  he 
was  assisting  Tyndal  at  Hamburg 
in  translating  a  part  of  the  Old 
Testament.  (Bagster's  Memorials 
of  Coverdale,  23.)  As  he  published 
his  own  translation  of  the  entire 
Bible  in  October,  1535,  —  the  first 
edition  of  the  whole  Bible  in  Eng 
lish  ever  printed,  —  he  was  doubtless 
engrossed  during  the  interval,  and 
in  seclusion,  by  this  task.  Where 


174 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


[Cn.  VIII. 


David  Whitehead,  a  distinguished  scholar  and 
divine,  was  also  an  exile  during  Mary's  reign,  and 
resided  at  Frankfort.  He  has  already  been  inciden 
tally  mentioned,  as  ministering  to  the  English  church 
in  that  city,  before  the  arrival  of  Knox.  He  appears 
to  have  been  afterwards  its  pastor.  It  is  probable 
that  his  acquaintance  with  Coverdale  had  commenced 


this  Bible  was  printed  is  uncertain. 
In  1537,  two  other  editions  of  it 
were  published  by  James  Nycolson, 
a  bookseller  in  Southwark. 

In  the  same  year  appeared  the 
Bible  which  bears  the  name  of 
Thomas  Matthewe,  but  which  was 
really  edited  by  John  Rogers.  Of 
this,  all  to  the  end  of  the  Chron 
icles,  the  book  of  Jonah,  and  the 
New  Testament,  were  Tyndal's ;  the 
rest,  Coverdale's.  (Compare  Hal- 
lam,  57,  and  note.)  This  edition 
was  a  private  speculation  of  Graf- 
ton,  who  printed  it ;  and  was  "  set 
forth  with  the  king's  most  gracious 
license."  (Compare  Heyl.  Ref.,  9, 
20.  Carte,  III.  128,  129.  Holing- 
shed,  IV.  732.  Stow,  553,  554,  575. 
Rapin,  I.  483,  804  -  832,  passim.) 

In  1538,  Coverdale  was  in  Paris 
with  Grafton,  and  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Cromwell,  Lord  of  the  Privy 
Seal  and  Henry's  vicegerent,  edit 
ing  another  edition  of  the  Bible; 
but  the  Inquisition  scenting  the 
work,  he  was  obliged  to  flee.  He 
managed,  however,  to  save  his  types 
and  most  of  the  edition,  which  was 
completed  and  published  the  next 
year  in  London.  It  seems  to  have 
been  what  is  called  Cranmer's  Bi 
ble.  (Compare  Hallam,  57,  note.) 

About  1540  he  went  to  Germany, 
where  he  struggled  eight  years 


against  poverty.  During  this  exile 
he  married  Elizabeth  Macheson,  a 
woman  of  Scotch  descent. 

When  Edward  came  to  the 
throne,  he  was  invited  —  by  Cran- 
mer,  doubtless  —  to  return ;  which 
he  did  early  in  1549,  for  a  letter  of 
his  to  Calvin,  dated  March,  1548, — 
i.  e.  1548-9,  —  says,  "On  my  re 
turn  to  England,  having  been  in 
vited  thither  after  an  exile  of  eight 
years." 

In  1550  he  brought  out  a  new 
edition  of  his  Bible  at  Zurich, 
which  was  reissued  in  London  in 
1553,  and  again  in  1562  (Strype's 
Parker,  207),  and  yet  again  in 
1566.  (Ibid.,  240,  misnumbered 
232.) 

He  was  appointed  one  of  the 
king's  chaplains,  and  almoner  to 
the  dowager  Queen  Catharine ;  and 
on  the  30th  of  August,  1551,  was 
consecrated  Bishop  of  Exeter,  be 
ing  "  habited  in  surplice  and  cope." 
(Strype's  Cranmer,  271.  ) 

Queen  Mary  deposed  and  im 
prisoned  him  in  1553,  and  would 
have  sent  him  to  the  stake  but  for 
McBee,  who  had  married  a  sister  of 
Coverdale's  wife.  This  man,  chap 
lain  to  King  Frederick  of  Denmark, 
procured  his  Majesty's  intercession 
by  letter  in  Coverdale's  behalf. 
This  being  unsuccessful,  his  Majesty 


CH.  VIII.] 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


175 


at  the  court  of  Henry  VIII.,  while  Whitehead  was 
officiating  as  chaplain  to  Queen  Anne  Boleyn;  and 
that  it  had  been  renewed  at  Frankfort  or  Geneva. 
Since  his  return,  he  had  so  won  the  esteem  of 
Elizabeth,  as  a  zealous  and  able  champion  of  the 
Reformed  religion,  that  she  had  offered  him  the 
Archbishopric  of  Canterbury;  which,  however,  from 
conscientious  scruples,  he  had  declined.1 


wrote  a  second  time ;  upon  •which 
Mary  reluctantly  liberated  her  pris 
oner,  on  condition,  however,  that 
he  should  abjure  the  realm.  He  was 
thereupon  sent  to  Denmark.  (Fox, 
HI.  182,  183.  Fuller's  Worthies, 
III.  411,  412.  Brook,  I.  125.) 

He  was  afterwards  in  Geneva, 
engaged  with  Goodman,  Knox, 
Gibbs,  Sampson,  Cole,  Oxon,  and 
Whittingham  in  translating  and 
publishing  the  Bible.  This  edition 
was  not  completed  until  1560,  when 
it  was  published  at  Geneva,  and 
dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  It 
is  the  version  known  as  "  the 
Geneva  Bible " ;  sometimes  wag 
gishly  called  "  the  Breeches  Bible," 
because  of  its  rendering  of  Gen. 
iii.  7.  It  was  the  first  English 
edition  in  which  the  chapters  were 
divided  into  verses.  Its  marginal 
notes  were  thought  to  reflect  upon 
the  queen's  supremacy;  and  there 
fore  it  was  denied  a  publication  in 
England.  The  author  of  the  "Dis- 
cours"  —  published,  it  will  be  re 
membered,  in  1575  —  says,  "Men 
maie  maruelle  that  suche  a  worke 
(beinge  so  profitable)  shulde  finde 
so  small  fauor  as  not  to  be  printed 
againe."  But  the  next  year  it  ivas 
printed  in  England ;  and  again,  in 
1579 ;  and  in  1616  had  passed 


through  about  thirty  editions ;  most 
ly  by  the  queen's  and  the  king's 
printers.  Other  editions  were 
issued  at  Geneva,  Edinburgh,  and 
Amsterdam.  (Neal,  I.  83.  Home's 
Introduction,  II.  244.  Strype's 
Parker,  207.) 

When  Elizabeth  came  to  the 
throne,  Coverdale  was  still  at  Ge 
neva,  and  the  news  of  that  event 
brought  him  immediately  to  Eng 
land,  where  he  preached  on  differ 
ent  occasions  at  Paul's  Cross. 
(Strype's  Annals,  I.  300,  407.) 
Further  particulars  about  him  will 
be  found  hereafter  in  the  text. 

The  chief  materials  of  this  note, 
where  reference  is  not  made  to  other 
authorities,  I  gather  from  the  Bio- 
graphia  Britannica ;  "  The  Remains 
of  Coverdale,"  published  by  the 
Parker  Society;  and  D'Aubigne's 
History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  V. 

Hallam  (57,  note)  says  that 
the  accounts  of  the  early  editions 
of  the  English  Bible,  as  given  by 
Burnet,  Collier,  Strype,  and  others, 
are  erroneous  or  defective;  and 
that  the  most  complete  enumeration 
is  in  Cotton's  list  of  editions,  1821. 

1  Fuller's  Worthies,  II.  19.  In 
troduction  to  the  Discours,  p.  vii. 
Strype's  Parker,  35.  Pierce,  46. 
Neal,  I.  119. 


176  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

He  was  pained  at  the  indications  of  poverty  which 
he  saw  in  the  apartment  of  his  venerable  friend. 
The  furniture  was  of  oak  wrought  in  the  simplest 
manner,  and  barely  sufficed  the  purposes  of  neces 
sity  ;  and  upon  nothing  there  could  the  visitor  look 
with  satisfaction,  but  a  few  choice  books  bestowed 
upon  the  shelves  of  a  rude  oaken  press.  Suppress 
ing  his  emotions  at  what  he  saw,  he  immediately 
opened  the  purpose  of  his  visit. 

"As  touching  that  you  said,  good  father,  of  the 
closing  of  your  lips,  it  is  burdenous  to  my  soul. 
We  did  think  it  blithe  sunshiny  weather  which 
God  had  sent  us  in  the  sweet  looks  of  our  sovereign 
mistress,  and  lo  !  our  sky  is  already  overcast.  I  take 
it  grievously." 

"In  good  sooth,  so  do  I.  We  have  reason.  Pa 
pistry  by  itself  be  better  than  mingle-mangle, — 
Papistry  naked,  than  Papistry  cloaked.  To  my  eye, 
there  be  strange  contradiction  in  things  present. 
Her  Majesty's  Council  half  Popish,  half  Protestant; 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  reformed  Pope-wise, 
yet  her  Majest}r  Head  of  the  Church ;  Master  White- 
head  himself  helping  to  mar  the  Liturgy,  yet  hating 
the  marring;  Master  Whitehead  to  her  Majesty's 
seeming  Papistical  enough  to  be  her  metropolitan, 
yet  so  much  of  a  Gospeller  as  to  refuse !  All  this 
bewildereth  simple  Myles  Coverdale." 

There  was  a  tinge  of  bitterness  in  these  words, 
which  grieved  Master  Whitehead;  but  he  mildly 
replied,  "  I  cannot  be  sponsor  for  her  Majesty,  good 
father.  But  concerning  myself  there  is  no  reason 
for  bewilderment.  In  sooth  I  was  of  those  who 
were  ordered  to  the  reviewing  of  King  Edward's 


CH.  VIII.]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  177 

Liturgy.  By  her  Majesty's  commands,  our  doings 
were  in  private  and  at  the  lodgings  of  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  joined  with  us  for  his  knowledge  of  civil  law.1 
We  were  not  her  Majesty's  advisers ;  but  under  her 
strait  behest,  which  was,  to  purge  the  Liturgy  of  all 
which  might  give  scandal  or  offence  to  the  Papists.2 
Certes !  what  were  we  to  do  but  obey  ?  In  the 
king's  litany  stood  the  prayer  to  be  delivered  from 
the  tyranny  and  detestable  enormities  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome.  The  Papists  would  never  gulp  that ;  so  it 
must  be  stricken  out.3  Then  there  was  the  commun 
ion  service  •  in  the  first  Liturgy  of  the  king,  6  the 
body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  — '  the  Hood  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,'  —  which  agreeth  with  the  doc 
trine  of  the  corporal  presence ;  in  the  second  Lit 
urgy,  '  Take,  eat  this  in  remembrance]  &c.,  which  ex- 
cludeth  the  doctrine.  "We  were  constrained  by  com 
mandment  to  join  the  two  as  it  now  readeth,  lest, 
under  color  of  rejecting  the  carnal,  it  should  seem  to 
deny  the  real  presence.  So  that  now  it  readeth  as 
to  give  not  matter  of  scandal  to  Papists.4  For  the 
same  reason,  nolens  volens,  we  must  strike  out  the 
rubric  which  declared  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  no 
adoring  of  the  bread  and  wine.5  All  this,  sorely  to 
my  grief.  Prithee  !  good  father,  what  can  the  chisel 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  23.     Strype's  and  Pilkington,  —  exiles,  and  newly- 
Life  of  Smith,  226.     Neal,  I.  76.  come  home."  —  Strype's  Annals,  I. 

"The   men    named   for   drawing  75. 

up  a  platform  of  religion  were  Bill,  2  Warner,  II.  416.     Neal,  I.  76. 

Parker,  May,  —  all  under  King  Ed-  3  Warner,     II.     417.       Heylin's 

ward  heads   of   the    University  of  Ref.,  283. 

Cambridge,    but    deprived    under  *  Echard,  789. 

Queen    Mary,   and  remaining  ob-  5  Heylin's  Ref.,   283.      Warner, 

scurely    in    England    during    her  II.  416.     Burnet,  IT.  606,  607. 
reign ;    Cox,  Whitehead,    Grindal, 

VOL.  I.  23 


178  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

do,  save  to  cut  as  the  hand  and  mallet  do  guide 
it?" 

"Didst  protest?  Didst  show  thy  mind  and  con 
science  ?  Didst  plead  ?  " 

"Ay;  protested  on  my  conscience.  For  pleading 
there  was  no  place." 

"  God  be  thanked,  brother !  that  thou  art  scatheless 
of  blame.  Yet  why  should  her  Majesty  seek  to 
make  thee  her  Primate  of  Canterbury  ?  " 

"I  did  withstand  the  Popish  bishops  with  some 
show  of  skill,  which  did  suit  her  humor.  Howbeit, 
she  wisteth  not,  mayhap,  of  my  contrariness  to  these 
changes,  and  that  I  did  refuse  on  the  score  of  con 
science  ;  for  I  did  excuse  myself  by  saying  only,  that 
I  could  live  plentifully  on  the  Gospel  without  any 
preferment  •  and  so,  by  God's  grace,  I  will  do. " 

"Alack!  alack!  that  her  Majesty  undoeth  the 
work  of  our  good  young  king!  It  be  a  sad  thing 
to  order  us  back  to  copes  and  such  like  things  from 


1  Neal,  L  75,  119.    Brook,  I.  173.  had  so  great  an  esteem  for  him,  that 

This  archbishopric  was  also  offered  she  offered  him  the    archbishopric 

to    Doctor  Nicholas  Wotton,   who  of  Canterbury,  but  he  refused ;  as 

refused  it.     (Holingshed,  IV.    760.  also  the  mastership   of  the   Savoy 

Lodge,    I.    337,    note.       Walton's  Hospital,  —  affirming  that  he  could 

Lives  of  Wotton,  etc.,  p.  104.)  live  plentifully  on  the  preaching  of 

"In   the   time  of   Henry   VIH.,  the    Gospel   without   either.     It  is 

Whitehead  was  chaplain  to  Anne  doubtful,  therefore,  whether  he  had 

Boleyn.     He  was  one  of  four  who  any  spiritualities  of  note  conferred 

were    nominated  to  the    king    by  upon  him,  he  being  much  delighted 

Cranmer  to  be  a  bishop  in  Ireland,  in  travelling  to  and  fro  to  preach 

He  had  a  hand  in  the  third  the  Word  of  God  in  those  places 

edition  of  the  English  Liturgy,  in  where  he  thought  it  was  wanting. 

1559.     He  was  one  of  the  dispu-  He  lived  single,  and  was  therefore 

tants  in  that  year  against  the  Ro-  better  esteemed  by  the  queen.     He 

man  Catholic  bishops.     So  that  in  died  in  1571."  —  Wood's  Athenae,  I. 

his   discourses,   showing    himself  a  396. 
deep  divine,  the  queen  thereupon 


CH.  VIIL1 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


179 


which  he  delivered  us ; l  knowing,  as  she  doth,  that 
our  best  clergy  —  Jewel,  Grindal,  and  others,  even 
Horn  and  Cox  2  —  count  them  relics  of  the  Amorites. 
It  be  a  sad  thing  to  order  the  sacramental  bread 
round  like  a  wafer ;  and  the  Lord's  table  against  the 
wall  like  an  altar;  and  obeisance  at  the  name  of 
Jesus ; 3  and  the  observance  of  the  old  festivals  with 
their  eves.4  My  heart  greatly  misgiveth  me,  lest 
these  be  only  the  first  steps  backward  to  the  embrace 
of  the  Romish  harlot." 

Thus  did  these  good  men  deplore  the  changes  in 
religion,  so  different  from  those  they  had  hoped  for 
when  it  was  announced  to  them  beyond  the  seas, 
"that  the  Lorde  began  to  shewe  mercy  vnto  Eng- 
lande  in  remouinge  Queene  Mary  be  deathe." 5  They 


1  Strype's  Annals,  I.  122. 

2  Hallam     says     (p.    107)     that 
all   the   most   eminent    Churchmen 
were   in   favor   of  leaving   off  the 
surplice   and  what   are   called  the 
Popish   ceremonies,   except    Parker 
and  Cox.     Strype  says  (Annals,  I. 
264)  that  "Cox  with  others  labored 
all  that  he  could,  upon  his  first  re 
turn,    against    receiving    into    the 
Church  the   Papistical  habits,   and 
that  all  the  ceremonies  should  be 
clean    laid   aside."      Even   Parker 
professed  "that  he  was  not  over- 
fond    of   cap    and   surplice,   wafer 
bread    and  such    like."     (Strype's 
Parker,  227,  and  Appendix,  p.  185.) 
By  turning  to  pp.  33,  67,  69,  208, 
243,  and  275  of  the  Zurich  Letters, 
the  reader  will  find  the  strongest 
evidence  of  the  aversion  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's   bishops   to  "  the  scenic 
apparatus  of  divine  worship,"  "  the 
fooleries,"     "the     ceremonies    and 


maskings,"  "the  theatrical  habits," 
"the  relics  of  the  Amorites,"  — 
these  are  bishop  Jewel's  words, — 
which  pertained  to  the  established 
service ;  and  of  the  earnest  man 
ner  in  which  they  strove  "  with  the 
queen  and  Parliament"  to  have 
them  removed. 

3  "  The  Puritans  maintained  that 
all  the  names  of  God  and  Christ 
were  to  be  held  in  equal  reverence ; 
and  therefore  it  was  beside  all  rea 
son  to  bow  the  knee,  or  uncover  the 
head,  only  at  the  name  of  Jesus." 
They  objected  to  the  Church  festi 
vals  or  holy  days,  and  particularly 
to  those  appointed  in  commemora 
tion  of  saints,  because  they  had  no 
foundation   in   Scripture  or  in  the 
usages    of   the    primitive    Church. 
(Neal,  I.  106,  107.) 

4  Heylin's  Ref.,  188,  283. 

5  Discours,  186. 


180  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII 

were  one  in  their  griefs  and  anxieties,  and  one  in  the 
purpose  to  make  no  approaches,  in  the  exercise  of 
their  sacred  functions,  to  the  superstitions  of  Rome ; 
and  particularly  never  to  adopt  "  the  relics  of  the 
Amorites."  While  in  the  full  fervor  of  such  dis 
course,  to  the  astonishment  of  both,  Sir  Francis 
Knollys  was  ushered  into  their  presence,  in  company 
with  the  Lord  Eobert  Dudley. 

Sir  Francis  Knollys  was  descended  from  a  younger 
sister  of  Queen  Anne  Boleyn;  and,  of  course,  was 
near  of  kin  to  Queen  Elizabeth,1  who  had  installed 
him  as  one  of  her  Privy  Council.  He  had  been  one 
of  the  exiles  at  Frankfort  during  the  troubles  there ; 
and,  sympathizing  with  Whittingham  and  Knox,  had 
been  driven  thence  to  Geneva  by  the  intrigues  of 
Cox  and  his  partisans.  At  Geneva  he  had  been 
intimate  with  Calvin,  Beza,  and  their  disciples,  and 
had  returned  to  England  "a  professed  Genevian."2 
Consequently,  he  was  far  from  being  a  stranger 
either  to  Whitehead  or  Coverdale ;  who,  well  know 
ing  his  religious  sympathies,  gave  him  a  cordial 
welcome. 


1  Camden  (p.  88),  Fuller  (in  his  Francis  himself  puts  this  relation- 
Worthies,  III.  16),  Birch  (I.  8),  ship  by  blood  beyond  doubt.  In  a 
and  Lodge  (I.  311),  speak  of  Knol-  letter  to  Whitgift,  he  speaks  of  him- 
lys's  alliance  to  the  queen  as  being  self  as  "  bound  to  be  careful  of  her 

only  through   his    wife,    Catharine  Majesty's    safety by    the 

Gary,  the  queen's  cousin-german  and  strong  bands  of  Nature."     (Strype's 

daughter  to  Lord  Gary  of  Hunsdon.  Whitgift,    Appendix,   Bk.  III.  No. 

Heylin  also  (Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  19)  VIII.)     Strype  says,  "  cousin  to  the 

states  this  connection.     But  there  queen."     (Ibid.T  p.  156.)     See  also 

was  also  a  nearer  one  —  of  blood.  Wright,  I.  272,  note. 
(Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  I.   Sec.   19.)         2  Lodge,  I.  311.    Heylin's  Presb., 

Lloyd  says, "  The  Knollyses  were  of  Bk.  I.  Sec.  19;  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  19; 

the  same  blood  with  her  Majesty."  Bk.  VIII.  Sec.  21. 
(State   Worthies,    618.)      But   Sir 


CH.  VIIL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  181 

That  the  attention  of  the  people  might  not  be 
attracted,  the  visitors  had  come  without  that  retinue 
which  custom  appended  to  their  oui>of-door  move 
ments  ;  and  for  the  same  reason,  their  apparel  was 
shorn  of  its  ordinary  splendor.  Still,  with  only  the 
appointments  of  unpretending  cavaliers,  —  gay  colors, 
rich  fabrics,  plumes,  and  weapons,  —  they  figured 
strangely  in  that  rude  apartment,  with  its  scant  and 
homely  furnishings,  and  beside  men  in  the  humblest 
sad-apparel  of  the  Church.  Dudley  was  profuse  in 
his  expressions  of  respect;  yet  with  such  delicacy 
of  port  and  phrase  as  precluded  offence,  and  with 
such  honesty,  for  the  moment,  as  barred  suspicion. 
Face  to  face  with  hoary  age  and  artless  piety,  the 
elegant  and  godless  courtier  yielded  to  their  influ 
ence,  and  dwindled  in  his  own  esteem  to  a  dwarf; 
his  courtesies  were  measured  by  the  sacred  rank  of 
those  before  him ;  his  lips  refused  hypocrisy ;  and  he 
was  constrained  to  an  openness  of  discourse  of  which 
he  had  believed  himself  incapable.  Add  to  this  be 
fitting  deportment,  his  noble  mien  and  princely 
features,  and  we  cannot  wonder  that  he  won  at  least 
the  momentary  confidence  of  his  new  acquaintance. 

We  pass  over  the  courtesies  of  introduction,  and 
the  discourse,  interesting  to  each  alike,  respecting 
the  days  of  Warwick,  Cranmer,  and  Hooper.  This 
naturally  and  easily  led  to  the  theme  by  which 
Coverdale  and  Whitehead  had  been  engrossed,  and 
upon  which  it  was  the  errand  of  both  Knollys  and 
Dudley  to  engage ;  a  theme,  however,  whose  intro 
duction  would  not  have  seemed  forced  in  any  circle, 
being  the  great  topic  of  the  day  with  all  ranks 
and  all  parties. 


182  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

"  My  lord/'  said  Coverdale,  "  the  plan  of  reform  in 
King  Edward's  day  was  step  by  step;  lest  sud 
den  and  violent  revolution  in  the  Church  should 
stir  up  rebellion  in  the  State.  Thus,  the  first  Lit 
urgy  only  abated  somewhat  the  Popish  mummeries. 
When  it  had  been  tried  awhile,  it  was  brought 
under  review  and  altered  to  a  farther  distance  than 
it  had  before  from  the  rituals  of  Rome.  But  though 
it  had  much  less  of  Rome  than  before  it  had,1  it 
was  the  intent  of  us  who  were  then  bishops  to  purge 
it  yet  more,  so  soon  as  the  people  could  bear  it." 

"So  I  have  been  told." 

"The  next  step  would  have  been  to  procure  an 
act  of  Parliament  for  abolishing  the  habits;  and 
this  both  Cranmer  and  Ridley  did  fully  intend,2  and 
the  king  himself  was  about  to  do  it  when  he  died.3 
And  you  know,"  turning  to  Sir  Francis,  "  that  when 
it  was  told  in  Switzerland  that  God  had  pulled  down 
Mary  that  did  persecute,  they  who  had  before  dis 
agreed  touching  the  ritual  did  by  letters  agree  to 
drop  contention,  to  join  hands  and  hearts  together 
at  home  against  superfluous  ceremonials  in  religion.4 
We  came  home,  and  lo ! 5  instead  of  the  further 
reform  which  King  Edward's  bishops  did  frame,  and 
for  which  we  did  hope,  we  are  told  to  go  back  to 
the  king's  first  Book,  and  put  on  cope  and  tippet, 
chimere  and  what  not.6  All  these  doings  tend  to 
Rome,  whether  her  Majesty  wotteth  of  it  or  no. 
God  grant  she  have  no  intent  thereto!" 

1  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  I.  Sec.  16.  4  Discours,  186-191.  McCrie,152. 

2  Pierce,  44.     McCrie,  408.  5  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  12. 

3  Zurich  Letters,  No.    CXXX.  ;     Heyl.  Ref.,  304. 

Withers  to  the  Elector  Palatine.  6  1  Eliz.  Cap.  H.  Sec.  XIII. 


CH.  VIII.]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.'  183 

"Her  Majesty  will  never  pay  Peters-pence,"  ex 
claimed  Dudley.  "  She  hath  the  spirit  of  her  royal 
father,  and  will  never  part  with  her  supremacy." 

"  Yet  did  her  royal  sire  cleave  to  the  superstitions 
and  idolatries  of  Kome;  and  to  her  heresies,  too. 
Her  Majesty  and  Parliament  are  moving  over  the 
steps  of  Edward  and  Cranmer  —  backward.  Will 
they  stop  ere  they  get  where  Henry  and  Cromwell 
were  ?  Hey,  my  lord  ?  " 

"  I  do  greatly  mislike  this  undoing  of  reform,  and 
therefore  did  give  my  voice  against  the  bill  for  Uni 
formity,"  l  returned  Dudley.  "  But  touching  the 
danger  of  her  Majesty's  relapse  to  Popish  idolatries, 
consider,  good  father,  she  hath  ordered  all  the  gear 
of  idolatry  and  superstition  to  be  destroyed,  —  the 
images  of  saints,  altars,  crucifixes,  and  such  like,  — 
which  hath  already  been  done.  That  smacketh  not 
of  idolatry,  I  trow." 

"  Marry !  and  retaineth  the  like  vain  quiddities 
and  dumb  idols  for  her  private  uses !  Prithee  !  what 
meaneth  the  Popish  rood  in  her  chapel?  What 
meaneth  it  there,  when  her  singing  children  clap 
on  the  surplice,  and  her  priest,  the  cope  ?  What 
meaneth  the  altar  there,  garnished  with  rich  vessels 
of  silver,  and  huge  crucifix  of  silver,  and  burning 
candles  ? 2  What  smack  these  things  of,  my  lord  ? 
They  do  grieve  and  alarm  the  most  loyal  of  her 
Majesty's  subjects." 

"  We  mislike  it  also,  reverend  sir.  Yet  methinks 
her  purpose  tendeth  no  further  than  will  suffice  to 

1  D'Ewes,  28.  XXXIX.,  Sampson  to  P.  Martyr, 

2  Zurich    Letters,  No.  XXXIV.,     Jan.,  1559-60.      Burnet,  HI.    439. 
Jewel  to  P.  Martyr,  Nov.,  1559  ;  No.    Neal,  I.  81,  82. 


184  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

gratify  in  her  own  privacy  that  which  we  all  know 
she  hath  inherited  from  her  royal  father,  —  a  fond 
ness  for  state  and  magnificence,  in  her  devotions 
as  well  as  in  her  court."1 

"Nay,  nay,"  replied  Coverdale,  gravely.  "Thou 
dost  thy  devoir  stoutly,  my  lord,  like  a  doughty 
knight  and  loyal.  For  thy  right  chivalrous  heart, 
I  do  commend  thee.  Albeit  mine  own  be  old,  and 
worn,  and  weary,  in  true  and  right  reverent  devo 
tion  to  our  gracious  mistress  it  doth  not  lag  a  whit 
behind  fresh  youth  and  princely  blood ;  nevertheless, 
while  I  find  Babylonish  garments  enjoined  even 
upon  her  clergy  who  detest  them,  I  do  gravely  ques 
tion  if  her  use  of  Popish  gear  be  only  for  her  own 
private  pleasing." 

"  Methinks,  reverend  sir,"  interposed  Knollys,  "  her 
Majesty  hath  proceeded  in  this  wise  as  far  as  she  will." 

"  Mayhap,"  replied  Coverdale,  dryly. 

"  Be  it  so  ;  be  it  so,  —  which  God  grant !  "  said 
Master  Whitehead.  "  Yet,  Sir  Francis,  we  do  harbor 
misgivings.  While  Popish  superstitions  have  the 
broad  seal,  and  while  Popish  pomp  doth  allure  and 
awe  the  people,  wherewithal  shall  they  be  restrained 
from  backsliding  to  Home?  Know  you  not  that 
the  learnedest  among  the  Papists  loast  that  the  face 
of  the  nation  hath  already  been  set  thither;  and, 
withal,  by  authority?" 

"By  my  troth,  nay.     Who  boasteth  thus?" 

"  No  less  a  man  than  that  arch-idolater,  that  prime 
minister  of  fire  and  fagot." 

«  Bonner  ?  " 

"Bonner." 

1  Echard,  789.     Warner,  II.  407,  408. 


CH.  VIII.]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  185 

"What  saith  he?" 

"  He  heareth  how  our  Parliament  hath  thought  fit 
to  continue  some  of  the  Popish  superstitions, —  'An 
they  sup  of  our  broth,  they  will  soon  eat  of  our 
beef/  l  he  roundly  exclaimeth,  and  in  huge  glee." 

" Ma  foil  I  do  honestly  commend  him,  being 
myself  of  the  mind  that  so  it  would  be  an  the 
people  were  left  to  the  natural  course  of  things." 

"Say  you  so,  too,  my  lord!"  exclaimed  Master 
Coverdale. 

"In  all  sincerity,  reverend  sir,"  replied  Dudley. 
"  Howbeit,  the  people  will  not  be  left  to  the  natural 
course  of  things.  People  and  Parliament  have  a 
mistress ;  and  my  thinking  agreeth  with  that  of  Sir 
Francis,  that  she  will  not  let  them  have  the  meat ; 
having  gone  as  far  backward  as  she  will." 

"Your  reason,  my  lord,"  said  Whitehead. 

"Ay,  my  lord,  —  your  reason,"  echoed  Coverdale. 
"A  sound  opinion  hath  good  cause." 

"  Reverend  masters !  let  men  gossip  as  they  may, 
and  let  you  honest  Genevans  quake  never  so  much, 
about  these  few  Popish  rags,  —  at  which  I  marvel 
not,  you  not  seeing  the  reasons  therefor,  mayhap,  — 
yet,  maugre  all,  her  Majesty  is  as  true  a  Protestant 
this  day  —  howbeit  not  of  the  same  mould  —  as 
my  Lord  Bishop  here,  who  hath  ventured  even  life 
for  the  faith." 

"  Nay,  lord  me  no  lord ! "  protested  Coverdale. 
"My  bishopric  is  over.  God  grant  you  be  right. 
Thou  givest  fair  reason  for  thine  opinion.  Canst 
give  as  good  reason  for  thy  reason  ? " 

"  I  will  try.     Ponder,  I  pray  you,  the  straitened 

1  Pierce,  50. 

VOL.   I.  24 


186  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

estate  of  our  gracious  lady  upon  her  coming  to  the 
throne.  The  Pope  had  declared  her  illegitimate, — 
which  meaneth  usurper  with  more  than  half  the 
world.  Thereupon  the  Queen  of  Scots  putteth  in 
her  claim  to  the  crown.  France  on  the  south,  Scot- 
land  011  the  north,  at  war  with  her  Majesty;  —  all 
the  Catholic  powers  her  open  enemies,  save  only  the 
arrant  bigot  and  graceless  mar-faith  of  Spain,  and  he 
secretly  so ; l  for  Throkmorton  hath  writ  her  Majesty, 
'The  king  of  Spain  is  but  a  hollow  friend  unto 
you,  and  so  may  he  do  you  more  harm  than  an 
open  enemy ' ; 2  —  all  our  bishops  and  a  great  part 
of  our  commoners  religiously  unloyal,  —  the  flutter 
of  a  rag,  a  puff  of  air,  might  have  woke  them  to 
rebellion;3  —  what  was  she  to  do?  Marry!  to  make 
peace  abroad,  —  the  seeming  of  which  she  hath  now 
happily  attained ; 4  next,  to  get  the  good-will  of  her 
subjects.  But  the  nation  was  wonderfully  divided 
in  opinions ;  as  well  in  matters  of  ecclesiastical 
government,  as  in  divers  points  of  religion.5  The 
greatest  part  of  her  subjects,  Protestants;  never 
theless  a  great  part,  Catholics,6  —  of  course  counting 
her  a  heretic,  a  bastard,  a  usurper.  By  education 
and  by  policy,  she  was  constrained  to  establish  the 
Protestant  religion.  But  it  much  behooved  her 
safety  to  throw  a  cake  to  Cerberus,  —  to  pacify 
and  make  easy  the  Papists.  For  this  reason  she 
hath  refused  the  title  Head  of  the  Church,  and 
taken  only  that  of  Supreme  Governess.  For  this 

1  Wright,  I.  6.  *  Strype's     Annals,     I.     30,    37, 

2  Forbes,   I.    182 ;    Throkmorton     283. 

to  the  Queen,  July  27,  1559.  6  Stow,  635. 

3  Rapin,  II.  57-59.    Warner,  II.         6  Kapin,  II.  52,  59  bis. 
407.     Neal,  I  71. 


CH.  VIII.J  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  187 

reason,  she  hath  moulded  the  Liturgy  somewhat  to 
the  complexion  of  the  Papistical  humor,  and  hath 
come  a  step  or  two  closer  to  the  Komish  cere 
monials.  For  this  reason,  she  retaineth  her  sister's 
councillors ;  and,  in  her  own  chapel,  certain  symbols 
of  Romish  worship;  and  hath  ordered  copes  and 
other  garments  for  the  clergy,  —  which  opportunely 
falleth  in  with  her  love  of  display.  In  fine,  she  hath 
discreetly  sought  to  shape  the  worship  of  the  Church 
—  while  putting  her  ban  upon  idolatry  —  more  pass 
ably  with  the  Romanists,  and  so  to  keep  them  in 
our  communion.1  The  wisdom  of  all  which  doth 
appear ;  inasmuch  that  they  be  quiet,  exciting  no 
sedition,  and  do  generally  repair  to  the  churches 
without  doubt  or  scruple.2  Thus,  most  worshipful 
sirs,  I  conceive  that  her  Majesty's  comportment  be 
not  from  any  leaning  to  superstition  and  idolatry; 
is  to  be  scored  only  to  her  state-discretion;  and 
maketh  naught  to  the  prejudice  of  her  hearty  Prot- 
estancy.  Which  I  humbly  lay  down  for  your  fair 
considering." 

"Bravo,  my  lord!"  exclaimed  Father  Coverdale. 
"  A  most  puissant  advocate  !  An  our  maiden  queen 
had  not  presently  given  thee  guerdon  of  the  Garter, 
thou  wouldst  now  have  earned  it.  My  lord,  I  will 
not  gainsay  thy  conclusion.  Nevertheless,  doth  not 
your  lordship  somewhat  overshoot  ?  An  these  com 
pliances  be  lime-twigs  to  catch  Papists,  then  they 
be  downright  Popish.  Myles  Coverdale  will  none  of 
them.  I  mind  me  none  the  less,  that  they  who  sup 
the  broth  will  hanker  for  the  beef." 

1  Echard,  789,  793.     Warner,  II.         2  Heyl.  Ref.,  283.     Heyl.  Presb., 
419.     Collier,  VI.  264,  480.     Bur-    Bk.  VI  Sec.  12. 
net,  II.  582,  583,  606. 


188  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VHI. 

"  On  that  score,  be  at  rest,  good  father.  She  who 
alloweth  them  is  a  Protestant,  with  a  woman's  will, 
with  queenly  power,  and  will  heed  the  spiritual 
weal  of  her  realm.  Be  mindful  also  that  she  hath 
advisers  whom  ye  may  trust,  who  respect  your 
scruples,  and  will  befriend  your  party,  —  Sir  William 
Cecil,  than  whom  none  hath  more  her  Majesty's  ear 
and  confidence ;  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  here,  who  hath 
been  school-fellow  with  Master  Coverdale  and  Mas 
ter  Whitehead  under  Master  Calvin,  and  whom  the 
queen  favoreth  to  a  marvel,  he  being  a  worthy  kins 
man  of  her  Highness ;  besides  that  graceless  gallant, 
Kobert  Dudley." 

"An  the  Lord  Robert  Dudley  and  his  compeers 
plead  as  well  with  her  Majesty  for  us  poor  Genevans, 
as  with  us  for  her  Majesty,  the  Lord  of  lords  bless 
him!"  said  Coverdale,  with  patriarchal  solemnity. 

The     courtier,     half     unconsciously,     responded, 
«  Amen ! " 

"  But  odds  my  life ! "  resumed  the  former,  after  a 
slight  pause,  "  how  cometh  it  to  pass,  that,  with  all 
this  tenderness  for  Papists,  not  one  poor  crumb  of 
royal  favor  hath  fallen  to  us  Protestants  who  sue 
for  a  purer  worship?"1 

"  I'  faith,  sir,  I  know  not.  But  Master  Knox  hath 
writ  somewhat  to  Master  Secretary  Cecil,  to  whom 
I  did  hear  her  Highness  swearing  roundly  and  over- 
loud,  one  day,  about  the  insolent  Scot's  letter,  and 
his  Blast 2  and  new-fangleness.  I  did  not  understand 


1  Collier,  VI.  278.     Strype's  An-  Blast  of  the   Trumpet  against  the 
nals,  I.  192,  194.  Monstrous  Regiment  of  Women," - 

2  Near  the  close  of  Queen  Mary's  i.   e.   the   unnatural  government  of 
reign,  Knox  published  "  The  First  women ;  a  pamphlet  provoked   by 


CH.  VIIL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  189 

the  discourse ;  but  surmise  that  the  Scotsman  hath 
told  tales.  How  now,  Sir  Francis !  Mayhap  you 
have  advisement  touching  that  we  speak  of." 

"  Certes,  I  have !  Her  Majesty  hath  been  plied 
with  tales.  Howbeit,  not  by  Master  Knox,  but  by 
his  old  adversary.  No  sooner  doth  Doctor  Cox  hear 
of  Queen  Mary's  death,  than  he  cometh  home  boot 
and  spur.  Before  any  of  us  in  Switzerland  could 
arrive,  he  gaineth  the  queen's  presence  and  bloweth 
in  her  ear,  with  Da  Capo  to  boot,  the  whole  Blast 
of  Master  Knox's  Trumpet;  whereat  her  Majesty 
did  fume  right  lion-like,  finding  woman's  regiment 
tilted  at  in  open  lists  as  a  thing  contrary  to  God 
and  nature.  Now  Doctor  Cox,  seeing  her  Majesty 
in  fit  humor,  doth  rehearse  after  his  own  fashion  our 
troubles  at  Frankfort ;  and,  with  others,  did  persuade 

her  Majesty's  barbarities.  Its  doc-  Cecil.)  It  was  at  the  hazard  of  im- 
trine  was,  "  that  the  rule  of  a  prisonment,  that  any  one  should 
woman  is  repugnant  to  Nature,  a  even  convey  a  letter  from  Knox 
contumely  to  God,  a  thing  most  to  the  Court  of  Elizabeth.  (Mc- 
contrarious  to  his  revealed  will  and  Crie,  153,  157.  Strype's  Annals,  I. 
approved  ordinance,  and,  finally,  178.  Forbes's  State  Papers,  I.  90.) 
the  subversion  of  all  equity  and  Knox  threatened  two  other  blasts, 
justice."  but  they  were  never  blown  ;  partly 
For  this,  and  for  his  hostility  to  because  the  first  gave  offence  to 
the  English  Liturgy,  the  queen  had  many  of  his  brethren,  partly  be- 
such  a  hatred  of  him,  that  the  very  cause  of  Mary's  death,  and  partly 
mention  of  his  name  was  odious  because  he  was  desirous  to  strength- 
to  her  ear.  In  March,  1559,  her  en  the  authority  of  Elizabeth.  (Mc- 
government  refused  to  let  Knox  Crie,  143.  Lingard,  VII.,  Note  H.) 
pass  through  England  on  his  way  The  letter  to  Cecil  alluded  to  in 
to  Scotland.  (McCrie,  153.)  Yet  the  text  was  dated  April  24th,  1559. 
Throkmorton  wrote  from  Paris,  "  In  In  this,  without  receding  from  the 
my  opinion,  it  is  greatly  necessary,  ground  he  had  taken,  Knox  ac- 
notwithstanding  any  difficulty  there-  knowledged  that  Elizabeth  was  a 
in  heretofore  made,  that  Knox  have  miracle  of  an  exception  to  the  gen- 
liberty  to  repair  into  England,  how-  eral  rule,  —  a  special  production  of 
ever  short  his  abode  be  there."  Divine  Providence,  —  expressly  ele- 
(Forbes,  I.  167;  Throkmorton  to  vated  to  the  government  for  the 


190 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


[CH.  vm. 


her  Majesty  that  the  sort  of  men  who  sided  with 
Knox  there,  and  who  were  with  him  at  Geneva, 
did  hold  his  doctrine  of  the  monstrous  government 
of  women,  and  were  therefore  her  disloyal  subjects.1 
'  These  be  the  sort/  said  they,  '  who  made  such  stir 
in  King  Edward's  day  about  the  episcopal  robes,  at 
which  time  they  did  outrage  all  decency  and  comely 
order  in  the  Church ;  and,  after,  did  practise  such 
like  books  as  this  to  subvert  Queen  Mary  withal- 
and  were  wont  openly  to  pray  God  either  to  turn 
her  heart  or  take  her  life.  And/  they  added,  'the 
same  sort  who  behaved  thus  under  King  Edward 
and  Queen  Mary,  will  so  behave  under  your  Majesty, 
an  thou  cross  their  fantasies,  right  or  wrong/  It 
was  bruited,  withal,  that  they  who  had  affected 
unmeet  alterations  of  the  Liturgy  were  for  having 


manifestation  of  God's  glory,  &c. 
According  to  Heylin,  (Presb.,  Bk. 
VI.  Sec.  13,)  he  had  the  ill  grace 
to  prescribe  to  her  a  "  confession," 
that,  "by  God's  mercy,  that  was 
lawful  in  her  which  was  contrary 
to  God  and  to  nature  in  all  other 
women  " ;  on  condition  of  which  con 
fession  Knox  would  acknowledge 
her  authority,  but  threatening  her 
with  God's  punishment  otherwise ! 
This  representation  has  the  bilious 
tang  which  so  pervades  Heylin's 
writings  as  to  repel  the  confidence 
of  his  readers. 

"  Knox  wrote  to  Cecil  requesting 
permission  to  visit  England,  and  en 
closed  a  letter  to  Queen  Elizabeth, 
in  which  he  attempted  to  apologize 
for  his  rude  attack  upon  female  gov 
ernment.  There  was  nothing  at 
which  he  was  more  awkward  than 
apologies,  condescensions,  and  civil 


ities  ;  and  on  the  present  occasion 
he  was  placed  in  a  very  embarrass 
ing  predicament,  as  his  judgment 
would  not  permit  him  to  retract  the 
sentiment  which  had  given  offence 
to  the  English  queen.  In  his  letter 
to  her,  he  expresses  deep  distress 
at  having  incurred  her  displeasure, 
and  warm  attachment  to  her  gov 
ernment  ;  but  the  grounds  on  which 
he  advises  her  to  found  her  title  to 
the  crown,  and  indeed  the  whole 
strain  in  which  the  letter  is  writ 
ten,  are  such  as  must  have  aggra 
vated,  instead  of  extenuating,  his 
offence  in  the  opinion  of  that  high- 
minded  princess It  does 

not  appear  that  Elizabeth  ever  saw 
Knox's  letter  ;  and  I  have  little 
doubt  that  it  was  suppressed  by 
Cecil."  — McCrie,  180,  181. 

1  Collier,  VI.  277,  278.     McCrie, 
153. 


CH.  VIIL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  191 

a  new  fashion  of  Church  polity.1  Whereupon  her 
Majesty,  when  first  deliberating  of  the  altering  of 
religion,  did  resolve  upon  Sir  Thomas  Smith's  coun 
sel;2  which  was  to  have  an  eye  upon  these  hot  Gos 
pellers,  and  not  to  heed  their  whimseys,  but  rather 
to  give  them  "an  early  check/'3  lest,  being  humored 
once,  they  should  bawl,  like  spoiled  children,  to 
be  humored  twice,  and  so  without  end.4  Thus,  to 
Doctor  Cox's  grudge  and  intrigues,  reverend  sirs,  we 
may  set  it  down  that  nothing  hath  been  done  to 
favor  your  wishes,  and  that  you  and  others  have 
been  treated  with  harshness  and  disdain." 5 

We  may  imagine,  perhaps,  although  we  cannot 
describe,  the  grief  and  indignation  with  which  this 
revelation  was  heard  by  men  than  whom  none  more 
loyal  and  upright  were  to  be  found  in  the  kingdom. 
With  that  honesty  which  belongs  to  self-respect, 
integrity,  and  a  high  sense  of  honor,  the  two  clergy 
men  spake  freely  their  resentment  of  the  wrong 
done  to  themselves  and  their  brethren,  and  their 
detestation  of  the  clandestine  and  insidious  means 
by  which  it  had  been  wrought,  —  expressions,  how 
ever,  so  tempered  with  meekness  as  to  excite  the 
admiration  of  their  guests ;  and  the  more,  because 
of  the  nature  of  the  provocation. 

"Of  a  verity,"  said  Master  Whitehead,  "Doctor 
Cox  hath  gained  his  points,  —  odium  for  those  who 
did  withstand  him  at  Frankfort,  and  royal  favor  for 
himself.  Nevertheless,  he  is  more  to  be  pitied  than 


1  Collier,  VI.  199.  *  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  11. 

2  Lloyd,  562.  McCrie,  153. 

8  Cainden,  16.  5  Strype's  Annals,  I.  178, 181. 


192  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VHI. 

"  To  be  pitied !  and  he  bishop  elect ! "  exclaimed 
Dudley. 

"Nay,  my  lord;  not  for  being  bishop  elect,  but 
for  being  traducer,  for  being  bishop  at  the  price.  To 
be  wronged,  is  not  wrong.  To  wrong,  is  to  be 
wronged, — self-wronged  and  pitiably.  He  standeth 
on  his  bishopric ;  I,  on  mine  integrity  and  manhood. 
A  man  whole  —  and  who  is  he  but  a  whole  Chris 
tian  ?  —  holdeth  higher  rank  than  a  mitred  man 
marred,  my  lord." 

"  Most  truly  and  nobly  said,  reverend  sir,"  returned 
Dudley  with  an  expressive  courtesy,  and  with  an 
inward  twinge.  "  Would  I  were  often  thy  pupil ! " 

"  We  will  bear  our  wrong,"  said  Father  Coverdale, 
"as  quietly  as  we  may;  but  we  must  be  righted  with 
her  Majesty." 

"It  will  be  difficult,"  replied  Knollys.  "Her  Ma 
jesty  is  very  jealous  of  whatsoever  seemeth  to  touch 
her  queenly  authority,  and  holdeth  fast  her  dislikes. 
It  will  be  hard  to  convince  her  that  the  friends  of 
Knox  are  the  friends  of  her  crown.  Every  one 
who  hath  the  smell  of  Geneva  is  hateful  to  her; 
because  there  the  Scot  published  his  Blast,  and 
there  too  Goodman  a  like  book  on  the  rights  of  the 
Magistrate." ] 

"  Impossible  ! "  added  Dudley.  "  And  as  impossible 
to  change  her  plan  of  the  ritual.  She  will  not  a  step 
back  from  the  pattern  she  hath  scored  out.  While 
the  changes  in  Church  order  were  under  deliberation, 
she  did  indeed  suffer  herself  to  be  persuaded  in  some 
things  against  her  bent.2  But,  the  order  once  fixed, 

1  Zurich    Letters,    No.     CXH.  ;         2  Burnet,  II.  614-616.     Neal,  I. 
Beza  to  Bullinger.  87.     Hume,  H.  572. 


CH.  VIII.]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  193 

she  will  suffer  persuasion  no  more.  She  hath  adopted 
for  her  motto,  "Semper  Eadem!"  and  she  will 
cleave  to  it.1  She  knoweth  right  well,  that  the 
greatest  part  of  the  most  eminent  clergy  are  mislik- 
ing  of  Popish  superstitions,  —  bowing  at  the  name  of 
Jesus,  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism,2  the  old  vest 
ments  of  the  clergy,  and  such  like ;  yet  she  will  not 
yield.3  Here  is  Jewel,  bishop  elect  of  Sarum,  and 
Grindal,  bishop  elect  of  London;  and  Sandys,  and 
Horn,  and  Parkhurst; —  her  Majesty  knoweth  well 
their  aversion  to  the  apparel,  and  to  some  things  else 
that  be  enjoined.  But  she  regardeth  not  their  wishes, 
although  they  have  had  no  dealings  with  Knox. 
She  hath  even  rejected,  in  these  matters,  the  advice 
and  remonstrances  of  her  Council.4  She  is  of  another 
mind  •  and  will  retain  things  as  she  hath  ordained 
them.  Divines  of  other  countries  have  prayed  her 
to  allow  some  indulgence  respecting  rites  and  cere 
monies  ;  but  she  answereth,  that  it  doth  not  consist 
with  her  interest  or  honor.5  In  fine,  '  Semper 
Eadem '  she  hath  written ;  and  what  she  hath  writ 
ten,  she  hath  written." 

1  Camden,  32.     Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  tism  was  imperfect ;  and  it  had  been 
p.  174.    Echard,  797.    Heyl.  Presb.,  unduly  reverenced,  as  a  part  of  the 
Bk.  VII.  Sec.  38.  rite,  even  by  some  Protestants. 

2  Making  the  sign   of  the  cross,        For  these  reasons,  the   Puritans 
although  practised  by   the   earlier  religiously,  and  like  sensible  philos- 
Christians  upon  some  occasions,  is  ophers  too,  objected  to  the  sign  in, 
not  mentioned  as  appended  to  bap-  this    ordinance.     (Burnet,  II.    127. 
tism  till  about  the  fifth  century.  Neal,  I.  107.) 

By  the  Romanists,  it  had  been  3  Pierce,  46.     Hallam,  108. 

supposed  to  be  efficacious  to  drive  4  Zurich  Letters,  No.  CXVlll. ; 

away  evil  spirits,  and  to  preserve  Gualter  to  Beza. 

one   against   dangers.       They   also  5  Collier,  VI.  300.     Strype's  An- 

regarded  it  as  imparting  a  sacra-  nals,  I.  127,  128.     Strype's  Grindal, 

mental  virtue,  without  which  bap-  33. 

VOL.  I.  25 


194  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

"  Different  from  the  maxim  in  good  King  Edward's 
day/'  exclaimed  Coverdale.  "  Her  Majesty  assumeth, 
for  sooth,  that  in  Church  matters  perfection  hath 
been  found,  —  a  sort  of  infallibility,  I  trow." 

"  Nay,  good  father ;  she  pretendeth  not  to  being 
infallible." 

"Very  like  it." 

"  Reverend  sirs,"  said  Knollys,  "  his  lordship  de 
scribe  th  truly  her  Majesty's  humor.  Touching  the 
dress  of  the  clergy,  and  the  order  of  public  worship, 
she  will  not  change.  I  pray  you,  therefore,  advise 
us  whether  your  consciences  will  allow  you  to  con 
form  to  her  ordainings,  or  no." 

"  Doth  not  the  act  requiring  uniformity  of  worship 
empower  her  to  ordain  such  further  ceremonies  or 
changes  in  religion  as  she  may  see  fit ;  and  without 
concurrence  of  the  Parliament,  or  of  the  Convoca 
tion  of  the  Clergy  ?  " 

"  Troth,  sir ;  and  a  point  on  which  her  Majesty 
was  resolute,  for  unless  the  act  had  so  provided,  she 
would  not  have  passed  it.1  Howbeit  the  act  bindeth 
her  to  the  advice  of  her  commissioners  or  of  her 
archbishop." 

"  Marry !  we  all  know  what  that  meaneth.  Advice 
be  a  supple  courtier,  and  hath  a  marvellous  aptness 
for  bowing  at  a  queen's  beck.  In  the  fifty-second  of 
her  injunctions,  she  hath  seen  fit  to  order  that  we 
do  all  courtesy  and  uncover  at  the  name  of  Jesus ; 
of  which  I  read  nothing  in  the  act  of  Parliament. 
Prithee  !  what  next  ?  An  you,  Sir  Francis  —  or 
your  lordship  —  will  tell  us,  for  surety,  what  orders 
are  to  come,  we  will  consult  our  Great  Oracle  and  tell 

1  Strype's  Parker,  309.     Warner,  II.  417. 


CH.  VIII]  THE   ESTABLISHMENT.  195 

you  about  conscience  and  conformity.  Eftsoons, 
mayhap,  we  shall  be  required  to  make  use  of  other 
Papistical  additions  to  the  ordinances  of  Christ, — 
shaven  crowns,  oil,  spittle,  cream,  salt,  and  the 
like." l 

"Yet  you  know,  good  father,  what  she  hath  de 
creed." 

"  To  the  tithe  of  a  hair." 

"  Canst  conform  to  such  ?  It  is  for  your  sakes,  I 
ask." 

"To  the  garments,  to  some  parts  of  the  ritual, 
never,"  said  both  Coverdale  and  Whitehead  de 
cidedly. 

"  How  of  the  queen's  supremacy  ?  Can  you  take 
the  oath?" 

"  In  its  letter,  no,"  replied  Coverdale.  "  It  declar- 
eth  her  Majesty  to  be  the  only  supreme  governor  of 
this  realm,  as  well  in  all  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
things  or  causes  as  temporal.  In  all  civil  affairs 
she  is  supreme  governor,  of  right;  but  I  stoutly 
maintain  that  the  government  of  the  Church — its 
doctrine,  its  discipline,  its  way  of  worship  —  properly 
belongeth,  not  to  any  one  person  civil  or  ecclesiasti 
cal,  but  to  the  spiritual  officers  of  the  Church  in 
convention  assembled ;  and  they,  to  decree  and  im 
pose  nothing  other  than  is  expressed  in  or  derived 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures.2  Therefore,  I  cannot  take 
the  oath  in  the  meaning  of  its  letter.  Nevertheless, 
with  her  Majesty's  explication,  whereby  in  plain 
words  she  challengeth  only  the  sovereignty  and  rule, 
under  God,  of  all  manner  of  persons,  —  not,  as  in  the 

1  Neal,  I.  97,  note.  son  to  Peter  Martyr.      Neal,  I.  78, 

2  Zurich  Letters,  No.  II. ;  Samp-     79. 


196  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

oath,  '  ecclesiastical  things  or  causes/  —  so  that  no 
foreign  power  hath  any  rule  over  them,  and  declareth 
herself  well  pleased  to  accept  of  it  if  taken  in  that 
sense,  —  in  that  sense,  when  there  be  occasion,  I  can 
take  it." 

"  So  say  you,  Master  Whitehead  ? " 

"With  all  my  heart." 

"  By  your  favor,  my  masters,  one  question  more. 
How  far,  think  you,  do  those  of  your  brethren  of 
the  clergy  who  wish  a  further  reform  in  religion 
agree  with  you  touching  the  oath  ? " 

"All  of  them,  and  entirely,  I  doubt  not,"  replied 
Coverdale,  promptly. 

"Which  neither  do  I  doubt,"  added  Whitehead.1 

"You  see,  my  lord,"  said  Knollys,  "that  our 
reverend  fathers  —  hot  Gospellers,  as  the  phrase 
goeth,  though  they  be  —  bear  true  allegiance  to 
her  Highness,  —  they  and  their  brethren.  They 
demur  not  to  the  oath.  It  is  e'en  as  I  told  you, 
my  lord." 

"Reverend  sirs,"  said  Dudley,  with  a  grain  of 
formality  in  his  manner,  "  I  have  sought  this  our 
conference  in  part  for  the  resolving  of  any  doubts 
which  perchance  might  oppress  you  touching  her 
Majesty's  policy  and  leanings  in  religion;  and  partly, 
that  I  might  best  know  the  true  loyalty  of  men  so 
eminent  among  those  of  our  Church  who  are  called 
Genevans.  I  now  declare  —  and  Sir  Francis  Knollys 
with  me  —  that  we  shall  strive  to  favor  your  cause 
at  court.  We  cannot  hope  to  gain  from  her  Majesty 
such  laws  as  you  wish,  nor  even  to  abate  her  dislike 
of  your  peculiar  brotherhood,  whom  Doctor  Cox  and 

1  Neal,  I.  78.     Lingard,  VH.,  Note  E. 


CH.  VIIL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  197 

others  have  so  deeply  infamed;  but  we  may  secure 
sufferance,  connivance,  freedom  from  annoyance,  for 
you,  where  betimes  conscience  may  slack  your  con 
formity.  We  have  some  small  influence  at  court, 
and  shall  use  it  —  let  but  the  Genevan  clergy  remain 
peaceable  —  for  their  favoring.  Peradventure  we 
may  befriend  them  to  some  good  purpose.  Sir  Fran 
cis  Knollys  is  true  Genevan;  a  zealous  opposer  of 
bishops  ;l  bound  to  you,  therefore  in  honor  and 
conscience.  Of  mine  own  conscience,  I  make  little 
vaunt ;  and  none  at  all  of  sanctity,  devoutness,  and 
things  of  that  sort,  in  which,  however,  I  pray  God  I 
may  not  lack.  My  service  will  be  rendered  for  two 
reasons; — first,  yourselves  ;  second,  myself; — which, 
being  interpreted,  meaneth,  —  first,  respect  to  your 
persons  and  good-will  to  your  principles ;  and  second, 
a  purpose  of  mine  own  thrift  in  name  and  estate. 
The  greatest  good  in  me  is  my  bond  to  you;  the 
greatest  blemish,  friendship  for  myself.  My  greatest 
honor  will  be  the  furtherance  of  your  interests ;  my 
greatest  folly,  angling  for  mine  own.  I  pray  you, 
let  the  demerit  of  selfishness  be  outweighed  by  the 
merit  of  honesty;  that  so  you  spurn  not  mine  en 
deavors,  and  blush  not  for  my  friendship.  So  fare 
ye  well."2 

Thus,  giving  opportunity  only  for  the  usual  cour 
tesies  of  parting,  the  lord  and  the  knight  abruptly, 
but  cordially,  took  their  leave. 

1  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  152.    Strype's  bishoprics  and  securing  to  himself 
Parker,  394.  a  portion   of  the   spoils ;  a  design 

2  Southey  has  well  expressed  Dud-  which  he  could  hope  to  accomplish 
ley's  position  in  relation  to  ecclesias-  by  no    other  means  than   by  the 
tical  parties.     "  That  unprincipled  triumph  of  this  levelling  faction."  — 
minion  favored  the  Puritans  because  Book  of  the  Church,  II.  290. 

he   was    desirous   of  stripping   the 


198  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

Whatever  purpose  some  of  the  exiles  may  have 
had,  at  their  return,  of  introducing  the  Genevan  plan 
of  Church  government,1  it  was  now  evidently  hope 
less.  The  forms  of  worship,  the  Supremacy,  the 
Prelacy,  had  been  established  by  law  of  Parliament ; 
the  old  bishops,  upon  refusing  the  Oath  of  Suprem 
acy,  had  been  deprived  of  office  in  July;  new  bish 
ops  had  been  elected  to  supply  the  vacant  sees,  and 
were  awaiting  the  ceremony  of  consecration. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  before  the  first  tint  of 
morning  had  appeared,  the  chapel  of  the  archiepiscopal 
manor  at  Lambeth,  brilliant  with  lights,  was  occupied 
by  a  dignified  assembly,  who  were  awaiting  in  silence 
the  solemn  inauguration  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  first 
Primate.  The  floor  was  covered  with  red  cloth,  and 
the  eastern  wall  was  hung  with  tapestry.  A  little  in 
advance  of  this  wall  stood  a  table,  also  covered  with 
tapestry,  and  prepared  for  the  service  of  the  holy 
communion.  On  the  south  side  from  the  table  were 
four  chairs ;  in  front  of  which  were  footstools  of  tap 
estry,  on  which  lay  four  cushions  of  crimson  velvet. 
Opposite  to  these,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  table, 
was  a  solitary  chair,  with  its  footstool  and  a  single 
cushion. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  the  queen  had  nominated 
Doctor  Matthew  Parker  to  the  see  of  Canterbury, 
who  had  been  chaplain  to  her  mother,  to  her  father, 
and  to  her  brother,  and  had  remained  secreted  in  the 
kingdom  during  her  sister's  reign.  He  had  been 
elected  accordingly  on  the  first  day  of  August ;  but 
certain  hindrances,  growing  out  of  the  recent  change 
of  religion,  had  prevented  further  progress  in  the 

1  Heylin's  Ref.,  304,  305.     Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  11,  17. 


CH.  VIII.]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  199 

matter   until   the    6th  of  December,  when  a  royal 
command  was  issued  for  his  consecration.1 

After  the  assembly  in  the  chapel  had  been  for  some 
time  in  patient  expectation,  the  western  door  was 
thrown  open,  through  which  entered  four  persons, 
each  bearing  a  lighted  taper;  then,  the  Archbishop 
elect,  —  now  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  —  clad  in  scarlet 
robes,  and  wearing  his  hood.  He  was  attended  by 
Barlow,  late  Bishop  of  Bath,  now  Bishop  elect  of 
Chichester;  Scory,  late  Bishop  of  Chichester,  now 
Bishop  elect  of  Hereford ;  Coverdale,  late  Bishop  of 
Exeter ;  and  Hodgskins,  suffragan  Bishop  of  Bedford.2 
Doctor  Parker  took  the  chair  on  the  north  side  of 
the  chancel,  and  the  four  upon  the  opposite  side 
were  occupied  by  the  four  bishops.  After  the  read 
ing  of  the  morning  prayers  by  Master  Andrew  Pier- 
son,  Doctor  Parker's  chaplain,  a  sermon  was  preached 
by  Doctor  Scory.  The  Archbishop  elect  and  the  four 
bishops  then  retired  to  the  vestry,  whence  they  soon 
returned;  Parker,  Scory,  and  Hodgskins  wearing 
linen  surplices ;  Barlow,  a  silk  cope ;  while  Coverdale 
wore  a  plain  black  gown,  reaching  down  to  his  feet. 


1  Camden,  29.     Holingshed,  IV.  pleasure    of  the  bishop  in  whose 
761.     Echard,    790.     Strype's   An-  diocese    he    served.     (Fuller,    Bk. 
nals,  I.    231.     Strype's   Parker,    1,  IX.  p.  61.     Burnet,  I.  257.     Mack- 
11,    52.      Nugae    Antique,   II.    16.  intosh,  I.  313,  note.)     Yet  the  term 
Burnet,    II.    622.      Lingard,   VII.  seems  to  have  been  used  in  different 
262,  and  Note  G.  senses.     Under   date   of  1562,  the 

2  A  Suffragan  Bishop  was  one  who  Lord   Bishops   in  the   province    of 
had  been   consecrated  to   perform  Canterbury  are  styled  the  Suffra- 
the  spiritual  functions  of  the  office  gans  of  Archbishop  Parker  (Strype's 
within   the  see  of  a  Lord  Bishop,  Parker,  121);  and  it  is  stated,  un- 
but  having  himself  no  title  to  a  seat  der    date    of   1569,   that    "hitherto 
in  Parliament.      His  episcopal  ju-  Archbishop  Parker  had  declined  to 
risdiction  was  limited,  and  his  au-  have  any  suffragans."    (Ibid.,  p.  240, 
thority  might  be  terminated  at  the  misnumbered  p.  232.) 


200  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

These  all  kneeled  upon  their  cushions  before  the 
table  while  the  Gospel  was  read  by  Barlow,  who 
administered  the  Sacrament.  Scory,  Coverdale,  and 
Hodgskins  then  conducted  Doctor  Parker  to  Barlow, 
now  seated  in  a  chair  by  the  table,  saying  to  him : 
"  Most  reverend  father  in  God,  we  present  unto  you 
this  godly  and  learned  man  to  be  ordained  and  con 
secrated  an  Archbishop."  The  queen's  mandate  for 
the  consecration  was  then  read ;  the  Oath  of  Suprem 
acy  was  administered  upon  the  Evangelists;  the 
Litany  was  sung ;  and  then  the  solemn  act  of  conse 
cration,  by  the  simple  form  of  the  laying  on  of  hands 
with  prayer,  was  performed  by  the  four  bishops. 
Suitable  Scriptural  exhortations  were  addressed  to 
the  Archbishop,  and  the  communion  was  adminis 
tered.  The  Archbishop  and  bishops  again  retired. 
Eeturning  soon  after,  he  appeared  in  his  episcopal 
habit,  with  rochet  and  other  robes,  and  with  a  tip 
pet  of  fine  sable  furs  about  his  neck.  Barlow  and 
Scory  were  also  clothed  in  their  episcopal  habits; 
but  Coverdale  and  Hodgskins  wore  only  their  usual 
gowns.  The  Archbishop  then  confirmed  in  their 
offices  certain  officers  of  his  household,  by  the  deliv 
ery  of  a  white  staff  to  each ;  when  he  retired  by  the 
west  door,  accompanied  by  his  family,  his  relatives, 
and  the  whole  assembly,  of  whom  were  Grindal, 
Bishop  elect  of  London,  Cox,  Bishop  elect  of  Ely, 
Sandys,  Bishop  elect  of  Worcester,  the  Register  of 
the  Province  of  Canterbury,  the  Register  of  the 
Prerogative  Court,  and  two  public  notaries.  The 
proceedings  of  the  occasion  were  then  duly  recorded 
in  the  Registry  of  Canterbury.1 

1  Camden,  30.     Kennett,  II.  659,  660.     Holingshed,  IV.  762.    Fuller, 


CH.  VIIL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  201 

Such  was  the  ceremony,  and  such  were  the  officials, 
at  the  consecration  of  the  first  Archbishop  of  the 
newly  restored  religion ;  a  consecration  the  validity 
of  which  was  denied,  and  the  facts  of  which  were  be 
lied  by  the  Romanists  in  after  years,  much  and  long, 
to  the  annoyance  of  the  Anglican  Church.  It  was 
performed  by  proper  functionaries,  according  to 
episcopal  usage,  and  according  to  the  Ordinal  of 
King  Edward.  But  there  was  no  delivery  of  gloves 
or  sandals,  ring  or  slippers,  mitre,  pall,  or  crosier; 
and  the  Primate  used  afterwards  to  say,  with  self- 
gratulation,  that  the  solemnity  was  without  spot  or 
stain  of  Popish  superstitions  or  vain  ceremonies.1 

On  the  20th  of  the  month,  the  Archbishop  con 
firmed  Barlow  and  Scory,  and  on  the  21st  conse 
crated  Grindal,  Cox,  Meric,  and  Sandys  as  bishops 
of  the  sees  to  which  they  had  been  respectively 
elected.2  Other  bishoprics  —  in  all  sixteen  —  were 
filled  by  the  next  midsummer.3 

The  new  bishops  soon  tendered  the  Oath  of  Su 
premacy  to  the  clergy  in  their  dioceses;  only  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  of  whom  refused  it, 
although  there  were  in  the  kingdom  nine  thousand 
and  four  hundred  ecclesiastical  persons  settled  in 
their  several  promotions.4  Thus  most  of  the  inferior 

Bk.  IX.  p.   61.     Heyl.  Ref,  292-  give    189   as   the    number  of  those 

295.     Echard,  794.     Strype's  Par-  who  refused  the  oath;  Hume,  182  ; 

ker,  54,  57,  58.     Burnet,  H.  623.  Neal,  244  ;  Warner  says  "  not  above 

1  Strype's  Parker,  61.  two  hundred."     Lingard  is  silent  on 

8  Strype's  Parker,  65.     Strype's  the  point. 

Grindal,  33.  Anthony  Kitchin,  alias  Dunstan, 

3  Holingshed,IV.763.  Heyl. Ref.,  Bishop  of  Landaff  in   Wales,   was 
295.  the    only    one    of    Queen    Mary's 

4  D'Ewes,  23.     Strype's  Annals,  bishops   who    took    the    oath    and 
L  106.     Camden  and  Echard  each  thus  retained  his  see. 

VOL.   I.  26 


202  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  [Cn.  VIII. 

clergy  kept  their  places,  as  they  had  done  through 
all  the  changes  of  the  last  three  reigns.1  The  Rom 
ish  priests  satisfied  their  consciences  by  reasoning 
that  it  were  better  policy  for  themselves  and  for 
their  religion  —  and  therefore  but  a  pious  fraud  — 
to  hold  their  places  at  the  price  of  perjury,  than  to 
yield  them  to  be  occupied  by  heretics;  and  that 
in  this  they  would  be  justified  by  the  Roman  Pon 
tiff.2  In  this,  some  of  them,  if  not  all,  were  influ 
enced  also  by  their  faith  in  certain  "fond  and  fan 
tastical  prophecies."  These  were  secretly  circulated 
by  astrologers  of  their  own  communion,  who  "  prac 
tised  with  the  Devil  by  Conjurations,  Charms,  Cast 
ing  of  Figures,  and  other  diabolical  arts  " ;  and  were 
to  the  effect,  that  the  queen  would  shortly  die,  and 
their  own  religion  be  re-established  by  the  coming  of 
the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the  throne.3 

Notwithstanding  the  small  proportion  who  were 
ejected  from  their  cures  for  refusing  the  oath,  there 
was  a  great  scarcity  of  clergy.  The  Protestant  min 
isters,  owing  in  part  to  the  butcheries  under  Queen 
Mary,  were  far  fewer  than  the  vacancies.4  In  the 
next  summer  the  Archbishop  "  found  many  churches 
in  his  own  diocese  shut;  and  in  those  which  were 
open,  not  a  sermon  was  to  be  heard  within  the 
compass  of  twenty  miles.5  To  supply  the  vacant 
churches,  even  in  part,  "  the  bishops  were  forced  "  to 
admit  to  holy  orders  tradesmen,  mechanics,  and  others 

1  Neal,  I.  82.  9-11,    88,   441,   465.      Carte,  HI. 

2  Camden,  30, 31.     Lingard,  VH.  410.      Heyl.    Ref.,    286,   287,    314, 
264.  329. 

3  5   Eliz.    Cap.   XIV.     Camden,  *  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  14. 
58,  152.     Collier,  VI.  366.     Fuller,  Strype's  Annals,  I.  266. 

Bk.  IX.  p.  96.     Strype's  Annals,  I.         6  Neal,  I  85. 


CH.  VHL]  THE  ESTABLISHMENT.  203 

whose  chief  qualifications  were  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures,  sobriety,  good  religion,  and  skill  in  read 
ing.  A  few  of  these  "  were  preferred  to  ecclesiastical 
dignities,  prebends,  and  rich  benefices,"  l  having  been 
trained  in  their  youth  at  schools  to  a  tolerable 
knowledge  of  Latin,  but  driven  to  trades  or  hus 
bandry  "by  the  discouragements  of  the  times."2 
But  most  of  them  were  ordained  as  readers  or  dea 
cons  to  small  cures,  "  instead,"  —  says  our  annalist, 
with  some  bitterness,  —  "  instead  of  Popish  Sir  Johns 
Lack-latin,  learning,  and  all  honesty ;  instead  of  Doc 
tor  Dicer,  Bachelor  Bench-whistler,  and  Master  Card- 
player,  the  usual  sciences  of  the  Popish  priests  more 
meet  to  be  tinkers,  cobblers,  cowherds,  yea,  bear- 
wards  and  swineherds,  than  ministers  in  Christ's 
Church."3 

Thus  was  the  Establishment  of  the  English  Church 
reconstructed,  with  stony  rigidity  and  mathematical 
preciseness ;  her  worship  fixed  to  a  genuflexion,  and 
her  livery  to  a  shoe-latchet ;  her  inquisitors  commis 
sioned  and  abroad  ;  her  hierarchy  anointed  and 
equipped;  her  mistress,  mistress  of  Parliament,  Con 
vocation,  and  Star-Chamber,*  of  dungeon,  gibbet,  and 

1  Camden,  30.  of  contracts  in  olden   times   there 

2  Strype's  Annals,  I.  267.  enrolled.     (Stow's  Survey,  175  and 

3  Strype's    Grindal,   40.       Heyl.  note,  Lond.  8vo  edit.   1842.)     This 
Ref.,  287.     Strype's  Annals,  I.  266,  court  consisted  of  the   Archbishop, 
III.  287,  429.  and  other  bishops,  the  Lord  Chancel- 

4  The  Star-Chamber  Court  was  lor  or  Keeper,  the  Privy  Council,  and 
held    in   Westminster    Hall,    in    a  the  Judges,  —  all  of  whom  were  ap- 
chamber  "  the  roof  thereof  decked  pointed  to  their  offices  by  the  queen, 
with  the   likeness   of   stars  gilt "  ;  and  held  them  during  her  pleasure, 
whence  its  name, — or  perhaps  from  The  whole  number  was  "  twenty  or 
the  word  starra  or  Starrs,  the  name  more."     Her    Majesty,  when    she 


204 


THE  ESTABLISHMENT. 


[Cn.  VIH. 


rack ; l  and  her  Bible  UNDER  the  crown.  The  ma 
chinery  was  complete,  and  was  now  to  be  put  in 
motion. 


chose  to  be  present,  was  sole  judge. 
The  others  could  only  advise.  In 
her  absence,  the  determination  was 
by  a  majority,  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
or  KeeperT  having  a  casting  vote. 
It  took  cognizance  of  all  sorts  of 
offences,  contempts,  and  disorders, 
not  within  the  reach  of  the  common 
law ;  nor  did  it  govern  itself  by  any 
statute  law,  but  fined,  imprisoned, 


banished,  or  inflicted  corporal  pun 
ishment,  according  to  the  will  of  the 
queen,  without  limitation.  Its  de 
terminations  were  as  binding  upon 
the  subject  as  an  act  of  Parliament. 
(Strype's  Whitgift,  222.  Warner, 
H.  463.  Hume,  HT.  245,  Appen 
dix  HI.) 

1  Lingard,  VHX,  Note  E.     Hal- 
lam,  1)3. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THE  KNOUT. 

THE  ORNAMENTS  OP  RELIGION  DISLIKED.  —  THE  PLAGUE  IN  LONDON.  —  GRIN- 
DAL,  BISHOP  OF  LONDON,  OFFERS  A  BISHOPRIC  TO  COVERDALE.  —  PROCURES 

FOR  HIM  THE  LlVING  OF  ST.  MAGNUS.  —  NON-CONFORMITY. —  THE  QUEEN 
ORDERS  IT  TO  BE  CORRECTED.  —  THE  BOOK  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS.  —  DlSSENT- 
ERS  CALLED  PURITANS.  —  THE  BOOK  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS  CONFIRMED. — 

UNIFORMITY  PRESSED.— JOHN  Fox.  — CLERGY  SUSPENDED. 

1563-1566. 

THE  wheels  of  the  Establishment  moved  heavily. 
The  Protestant  clergy  —  particularly  the  most  emi 
nent  for  piety  and  learning,1  and  including  every 
bishop  —  disapproved  of  the  ecclesiastical  garments, 
and  of  those  ceremonies  which  were  considered 
Popish.2  They  agreed  in  their  articles  of  faith,  and 
refused  not  the  Oath  of  Supremacy  with  the  queen's 
explication.  But  they  were  of  the  opinion  of  Cal 
vin,  that  in  matters  of  religion  nothing  should  be 
exacted  which  is  not  required  by  the  Word  of  God;3 
and  were  earnest  that  their  worship  should  be 
divested  of  all  the  usages  peculiar  to  Kome.4 

1  Neal,  I.  88,  note.    Pierce,  44,  46.     Church,  as  such,  had  had  no  share 

2  Zurich   Letters,  pp.    243,    275,  in   establishing  the  Book  of  Com- 
276,  308.     Strype's  Parker,  61,  227;  mon  Prayer.     It  had  been  made 
Annals,  I.  264.     See  ante,  p.   179,  authoritative  by  Parliament  alone, 
note  2.  without  the  advice  or  concurrence 

3  Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  3.  of  the  Convocation  of  the  Clergy. 
Neal,  I.  79.  Elizabeth's  bishops  were   not  then 

4  Strype's  Grindal,  28.  in  office. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the        In  the  Convocation  of  the  Clergy 


206  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.IX. 

The  nobility  were  divided  on  these  matters.  Yet, 
even  at  Court,  there  was  a  strong  party  secretly 
against  the  episcopal  garments.1 

Among  the  common  people,  the  aversion  to  the 
ceremonies  and  habits  was  even  greater  than  that 
of  any  of  the  clergy.2  The  shrieks  of  Mary's  vic 
tims  rung  yet  so  terribly  in  their  memories,  that 
Bonner  was  kept  in  prison  to  protect  him  from  the 
kindred  of  those  whom  he  had  burned.3  The  episco 
pal  garments  were  indelibly  associated  in  their  minds 
with  the  Church  which  he  had  served,  and  shared 
their  hatred  of  its  atrocities.4  Nothing  but  their 
fear  of  the  queen  kept  them  from  tumult. 

The  plague  was  in  London.  It  had  come  over 
with  the  queen's  soldiers  from  France,  and  then  had 
broken  out  in  their  tents  and  barracks  in  Kent. 

which  met  in  January,  1562-3,  the  sentiments  and  wishes  of  the  mem- 

forty-two  Articles  of  Edward  VI.  bers    been    suppressed.     This    was 

were  revised,  reduced  as  they  now  partly  through  dread  of  a prcemunire, 

stand  to  thirty-nine,    and  adopted  (Neal,  I.  89,)    for   the  queen  was 

without  dissension.     But  they  were  keenly  jealous   of  her  prerogative, 

not  sanctioned  by  Parliament  until  and  would  brook  no  meddling  with 

nine  years  after.  (Echard,  801.  Ful-  established  law  ;  and  partly  in  hope 

ler,  Bk.  IX.  p.  72.    Strype's  Parker,  of  quietly  effecting  a  change  through 

122.     13  Eliz.  Cap.  XII.  Sec.  1.)  the  more  natural  channel  of  the 

But  a  proposition  to  dispense  with  Parliament.       (Neal,    I.    92     &is.) 

episcopal  vestments,  the  sign  of  the  Large  numbers  of  the  clergy,  not 

cross    in  baptism,  kneeling  at   the  members  of  the  Convocation,  were 

communion,  and  other  Popish  rites,  equally  desirous  of   amending  the 

was  lost  by  a  single  vote,  —  58  to  59.  rites  of  the  Church.     (Ibid.,  89.) 
(Strype's  Annals,  I.  502  -  505.   Bur-        l  Strype's  Annals,  II.  129.     Neal, 

net,    III.    455.     Warner,   II.    430.  I.  91, 95.     Heylin,  Presb.,  Bk.  VI. 

Neal,  I.  88,  89.   Hallam,  108.)    This  Sec.  29. 
seems  like  almost  a  balance  of  sen-        2  Strype's  Parker,  108. 
timent  in  regard  to  these  matters.        3  Zurich  Letters,  No.  LI. ;  Jewel 

Yet  —  although  some  of  the  Convo-  to    P.   Martyr.     Strype's    Grindal, 

cation  doubtless  favored  Popery —  102. 

there  would  have  been  a  majority        4  Strype's  Annals,  II.  126.     Neal, 

in  the  affirmative,  had  not  the  true  I.  95. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  207 

It  had  made  its  first  appearance  in  the  city  on  the 
2d  of  August ;  and  by  the  20th  of  the  month,  a 
thousand  were  dying  weekly.  And  although  by 
the  27th  of  November  the  deaths  had  been  reduced 
to  three  hundred  a  week,  it  was  yet,  in  the  latter 
part  of  December,  doing  its  swift  work  where  and 
on  whom  it  listed.1  It  wrought  most  along  lanes 
and  adown  alleys,  where  Vice  kennelled  in  foul  air 
and  rotting  filth ;  or  in  the  tap-room,  where  roister 
ing  youth  and  blear-eyed  old  men  herded  and  sang 
songs.  It  was  terrible  —  that  cry  of  the  stricken 
when  he  detected  the  fatal  sign  upon  his  person; 
terrible  —  when  his  frighted  fellows  fled  and  left  him 
there,  to  die ;  terrible  —  when  the  invisible  angel, 
with  people  hale  and  strong,  trod  softly  to  a  scenic 
show,  and  suddenly  set  his  seal  there  upon  this  one 
and  that,  just  as  the  profane  jest  of  the  player  and 
the  shout  of  applause  were  going  up  before  God 
together.2  Yet  the  pestilence  smote  also  the  gleeful 
child  in  the  lap  of  wealth,  the  man  of  high  blood  and 
courtly  pride,  the  good  man  and  humble.  Among 
the  thousands,  rich  and  poor,  gay  and  thoughtful, 
good  and  bad,  who  yet  lingered  in  the  city,  was 
one,  good,  thoughtful,  poor,  aged.  Like  his  Master, 
he  had  no  home ;  but  laid  his  head  wherever  it 
chanced,  —  sometimes  in  London,  sometimes  in  its 
suburbs.  Four  years  before  —  it  was  now  the  year 
1563  —  he  had  placed  consecrating  hands  on  the 
head  of  the  queen's  first  Archbishop.  He  had  been 


1  Zurich  Letters,  p.  188.      Ho-  the  year,   20,136   died  in  London 

lingshed,   IV.    223,    224.     Strype's  and  the  out-parishes. 

Grindal,  70  ;  Annals,  II.  88.  Wright,  2  Strype's  Grindal,  82.      Wright, 

I.  138  and  note,  and  152.     During  1. 167  ;  Grindal  to  Cecil. 


208  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

offered  his  old  bishopric  of  Exeter,  but  had  refused 
it  because  of  the  habits  and  ceremonies  retained  in 
the  Church,  and  which  he  considered  Popish.1  Grin- 
dal,  the  Bishop  of  London,  had  offered  him  certain 
"  livings/'  but  he  had  thought  it  not  meet  to  accept 
of  any  one.  Probably  they  were  benefices  which 
he  could  not  serve  in  his  simple  Gospel  way,  with 
out  attracting  attention  and  annoyance.  Thus  he 
had  lived  without  a  "  living  " ;  contented  in  his  lowly 
poverty,  and  preaching  here  and  there  in  churches 
as  he  had  opportunity.  The  plague  —  it  had  sent 
a  few  to  heaven  —  had  set  an  eye  on  him,  thinking 
him  ripe.  But  he  was  not  quite.  He  needed  a  little 
more  of  his  Father's  discipline,  —  a  very  little.  He 
had  bent,  like  a  bulrush,  under  the  breath  of  the 
destroyer ;  but  he  had  risen  up  again,  and  now,  on 
the  twentieth  day  of  December,  was  sitting  pale  and 
wan,  the  guest  of  a  worthy  burgher  who  had  wel 
comed  him  for  Christ's  sake. 

The  Bishop  of  London  sat  with  him,  for  he  had 
heard  of  his  sickness,  and  had  come  to  congratulate 
him  upon  his  recovery. 

Grindal  was  now  in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  his 
life,  forty-four  years  of  age ;  a  kind-hearted  man,  of 
a  genial  spirit,  seeking  with  a  single  eye  the  ascen 
dency  of  the  Gospel  over  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the 
people.  To-morrow's  sun  would  close  the  fourth 
year  of  his  prelacy ;  in  which  time  he  had  well 
tested  its  burdens.  Occasionally  a  peculiar  indenta 
tion  just  above  the  right  eyebrow  would  betray 
secret  perplexity  and  care ;  otherwise,  his  counte 
nance  was  open  and  sunny ;  for  he  had  not  felt  the 

1  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  61.     Burnet,  H.  611.     Holingshed,  IV.  423,  424. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  209 

biting  lash  of  the  queen's  Supremacy  —  yet.  His  eye, 
without  being  brilliant  and  piercing,  indicated  a  clear 
and  active  mind.  His  mouth  —  rather  narrow,  the 
lines  of  his  lips  deeply  cut,  waving,  and  expressive  of 
quiet  good-nature  —  gave  him  a  pleasant  look,  even 
when  that  one  brow  was  knotted.  The  beard  was  so 
trained  as  neither  to  cover  the  profile  of  the  lip,  nor 
the  lively  angle  of  the  mouth ;  upon  the  chin,  it  was 
but  a  short  and  narrow  tuft ;  from  the  cheeks,  it  was 
shaven  so  as  to  show  only  upon  the  line  of  the  jaw 
downwards  where  it  met  beneath  the  chin,  falling 
thence  several  inches,  and  forked  artistically  at  its 
extremity.  This  added  to  the  seeming  narrowness 
and  length  of  the  entire  face ;  and  this  face,  sur 
mounted  by  a  forehead  of  unusual  breadth,  with  the 
backward  head  still  more  expansive,  rendered  "  the 
reverend  father  in  God  "  a  most  noticeable  person 
in  any  assembly. 

When  he  had  expressed  his  gratitude  that  Father 
Coverdale  was  yet  spared  to  the  Church,  and  that 
the  pestilence  was  now  abating,  the  Bishop  turned 
the  conversation  to  religious  affairs;  and  the  spot 
came  upon  his  brow. 

"  Good  father,"  said  he,  u  this  lack  of  laborers  in 
the  Lord's  harvest,  it  is  burdenous  to  my  soul. 
At  the  beginning  we  were  fain  to  turn  our  hands  to 
sundry  artificers,  and  even  to  some  of  baser  occupa 
tions,  men  not  brought  up  to  learning,  and  did 
admit  them  to  the  ministry,  looking  only  that  they 
were  fair  readers  and  of  good  conversation.  This 
his  Grace  of  Canterbury  did  mislike,  and  sendeth  ad 
vertisement  to  forbear  ordaining  such.1  But  marry  ! 

1  Strype's  Parker,  90.     Strype's  Grindal,  40. 
VOL.  i.  27 


210  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

what  could  we  do?  In  many  town  and  village 
churches,  not  a  morsel  of  preaching  or  a  homily 
for  months  together ;  mothers  weeping  over  unbap- 
tized  children,  and  widows  over  unburied  husbands  ! 
Tore  God,  we  could  not  consent  to  heathendom  ! 
We  must  ordain  those  who  offered,  how  meanly  so 
ever  qualified;  and  we  did.1  All  this  you  remem 
ber." 

"In  troth  I  do,  my  lord;  and  sadly." 

"But  such  men  are  no  preachers.  They  can 
serve  only  for  ministering  sacraments  and  reading 
homilies.  Prithee,  good  father,  what  were  homilies 
made  for,  in  good  King  Edward's  day  ?  " 

"  For  the  like  straits  as  ours,  my  lord.  Had  there 
been  men  enough  who  could  preach,  there  would 
have  been  never  a  homily  devised."2 

"  Troth.  Dost  bethink  thee  how  they  were  rated 
in  his  statute?" 

"As  not  to  be  preferred,  but  to  give  place  to 
sermons  whensoever  they  might  be  had."3 

"  Which  accordeth  with  my  mind  and  yours,  good 
father.  Now  we  can  make  a  homily-reader  of  a 
Pasquin  or  a  Crispin,  but  never  a  preacher.  But 
preaching  is  the  ordinary  and  ordained  means  for 
the  reconciling  of  men  to  God,  and  of  subjects  to 
their  prince ;  for  obedience  proceedeth  from  con 
science  ;  conscience  is  grounded  upon  the  Word  of 
God ;  and  the  effect  of  the  Word  is  wrought  by 
preaching.4  I  pray  thee,  good  sir,  see  an  thou  canst 
draw  logical  conclusion  from  these  my  premises." 

1  Neal,  1  86.  3  Strype's  Grindal,  223. 

2  Strype's    Grindal,  222  ;  Memo-        4  Ibid.,  222. 
rials,  m.  591. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  211 

"Marry!  my  lord,  I  will  try.  Obedience  to  God 
and  the  queen  dependeth  upon  conscience;  the 
movement  of  conscience,  upon  knowledge  of  the 
Word ;  knowledge  of  the  Word  is  conveyed  by 
preaching ;  ergo,  to  make  men  peaceable  toward 
God  and  the  queen,  it  behooveth  to  have  plenteous 
preaching." 

"  A  good  logician,  reverend  father !  But,  as  St. 
Paul  saith,  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher  ? 
In  any  one  thing,  nothing  is  more  plain  in  the 
Scriptures,  than  that  the  Gospel  of  Christ  should  be 
plentifully  preached,  —  publicly,  continually.1  An 
thou  hadst  drawn  out  thy  conclusion  a  little  further, 
thou  hadst  spared  me  the  doing  it." 

"Prithee,  my  lord,  whither?" 

"  Until  it  had  reached  the  conscience  of  one  Myles 
Coverdale,  whilom  Bishop  of  Exeter,  who  in  this 
time  of  the  Church  her  straitness  cometh  not  up  to 
the  help." 

"What  meaneth  your  lordship  ?  When  hath  Myles 
Coverdale  failed  aught  to  preach  the  Word  ? " 

"Nay,  nay;  not  failed  to  preach  it,  but  to  take 
preferment  where  his  preaching  might  more  avail, 
and  more  help,  perchance,  to  train  others  to  preach 
ing.  Herein,  methinks,  he  hath  not  used  his  ten 
talents  aright.  Moreover,  thou  wert  in  Christ  before 
any  of  us  bishops,  and  it  is  not  well  that  now  in 
thine  old  age  —  and  the  less  well,  sith  God  hath 
raised  thee  as  it  were  from  the  dead  —  thou  be 
without  stay  of  living.2  I  have  therefore  come 
again,  and  with  a  plea  in  each  hand,  —  the  necessity 
of  preaching,  and  the  dearth  of  preaching,  to  say 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  222.  2  Ibid.,  91. 


212  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

naught  of  how  thy  living  privately  may  be  laid  to 
the  neglect  of  us  bishops,  —  I  have  come,  I  say,  to 
crave  thine  acceptance  of  preferment.  The  Welsh 
bishopric  of  Landaff  is  now  void.  It  hath,  in  troth, 
suffered  much  from  spoliations  under  Kitchin,  who 
has  died  of  late  ;x  but  if  any  competence  of  living  can 
be  made  of  it,  I  would  it  were  thine.2  In  good  sooth, 
I  have  written  this  very  day3  to  Master  Secretary 
Cecil,  that  he  would  further  your  preferment  to  it." 

In  a  pleasant  but  decided  tone,  Coverdale  replied, 
"My  lord,  I  give  thee  hearty  thanks  for  thy  good 
intent  and  sweet  kindness.  But  thou  knowest  how 
my  conscience  is  set  against  even  the  gear  which 
the  Church  ordereth  for  her  inferior  clergy.  How 
much  more,  against  what  she  prescribeth  for  a 
bishop !  It  cannot  be,  my  lord ;  it  cannot  be." 

"  Methinks  thy  mislikings  of  the  priestly  garments 
cannot  overtop  mine  own.  Canst  not  temper  the 
harmlessness  of  the  dove  with  the  wisdom  of  the 
serpent?  Prithee,  good  father,  what  would  have 
become  of  the  Church,  if  all  the  Keformers  had  re 
fused  her  offices  because  of  inconveniences  and 
offences  therein?  The  Keformation  would  have 
come  to  a  stand ;  nay,  Papists  would  have  stood  in 
our  places,  to  the  subversion  of  all  true  religion.4 

1  Strype's  Parker,  148.  was  said,  '  A  bad  Kitchin  did   for 

2  "  Kitchin,  alias  Dunstan,  made  ever  spoil  the  good  meat  of  the  bish- 
a  grievous  waste  and  spoil  of  a  very  ops  of  Landaff.'  "  —  Wood's  Athe- 
wealthy  bishopric."   (Strype's  Me-  nae,  II.  559  and  note,  and  796. 
morials,  IV.  174.    Fuller's  Worthies,  3  "  Coverdale's  Remains,"  by  the 
H.  435,  506  ;  Church  Hist,  Bk.  IX.  Parker  Society,  p.  531. 

p.  59.)      "  Anthony   Kitchin,   alias  *  Zurich  Letters,  pp.    243,  275 ; 

Dunstan,  died  Oct.  31,  1563.     The  Grindal  to  Bullinger  and  to  Gualter. 

bishopric  of  Landaff  was  much  im-  Strype's  Grindal,  30. 
poverished  by  him.     Whereupon  it 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  213 

Thou  knowest  I  had  great  misgivings  about  acceptr 
ing  my  bishopric/  wherein  I  am  required  to  use 
garments  and  ceremonies  which  be  contrarious  to 
the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel.  But  the  laws  of  the 
Church  were  made  without  me.  I  could  not  change 
them.  The  only  question  was,  while  the  purity 
of  the  Gospel  remaineth  to  us  safe  and  free,  would  I 
bear  these  things,  not  in  themselves  wicked,  or  give 
way  to  wolves  and  Antichrist,  Lutherans  and  semi- 
Papists?2  Conscience,  looking  at  the  peace  and 
safety  of  religion,  bade  me  sacrifice  my  wish  to  the 
law,  and  wait  for  fit  opportunity  to  reverse  it.  I 
did  so.  I  ought  to  have  done  so.  I  repent  not  of 
it.3  The  question  is  the  same  to-day  for  you,  as 
then  for  me.  Look  you  to  it,  good  father,  lest  in 
shunning  an  evil,  you  let  slip  or  damage  a  good." 

"  My  lord,  Peter  Martyr  did  advise  to  do  nothing 
against  thy  conscience.4  Sound,  wholesome  counsel, 
my  lord.  Thou  didst  follow  it;  and  didst  well.  I 
follow  it  too ;  albeit  there  lieth  this  difference,  that 
my  conscience  saith  it  be  not  right  to  wear  habits 
that  have  been  consecrated  to  idolatrous  uses,  and 
are  the  very  marks  and  badges  of  that  religion  to 
which  I  was  a  bond-slave  in  my  youth.5  But  I  pray 
your  lordship,  tell  me,  didst  strive  earnestly  against 
this  idolatrous  gear?" 

"  Verily,  those  of  us  bishops  who  were  exiles,  when 
we  returned  did  strive  all  we  could  with  the  queen 
and  Parliament  against  receiving  the  Papistical  habits 
into  the  Church,  and  that  all  the  ceremonies  should 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  28.  3  Strype's  Grindal,  28-31,  295. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  154;  Grindal,        4  Ibid.,  30. 
106.  5  Neal,  I.  93. 


214  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

be  clean  laid  aside.  When  we  could  not  obtain  it, 
Cox,  Horn,  Sandys,  Jewel,  Parkhurst,  Bentham,  and 
myself  consulted  what  to  do,  being  in  doubt  whether 
we  would  enter  upon  our  functions.  Upon  confer 
ence,  we  did  conclude,  with  one  undivided  mind,  not 
to  desert  our  ministry ;  and  this  we  did  for  the 
reasons  I  have  just  now  rehearsed.1  I  call  God  to 
witness,  that  it  lieth  not  at  our  door  that  these 
things  are  not  quite  taken  away." 2 

"  Dost  look  for  opportunity  to  change  the  law,  my 
lord?" 

"  Honestly,  no.  Her  Majesty  is  inflexible.  Nay,  — 
I  grieve  to  say  it,  —  she  hath  given  signs  of  hanker 
ing  for  more  Popish  fooleries.  Howbeit,  his  Grace  of 
Canterbury,  thank  God  !  hath  stayed  her  purpose." 3 

66  My  lord,  my  heart  is  sore  troubled  for  our  gra 
cious  queen.  The  Lord  Robert  Dudley  did  urge  to 
me,  that  these  remainders  of  Popery  are  kept  by 
her  Highness  only  to  prevent  quarrel  for  diversity 
of  religion.  It  may  be  so.  Albeit,  I  might  ask, 
what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial?  Moreover, 
another  thing  oppresseth  me.  In  the  second  year 
of  her  Highness,  your  lordship  did  procure  search 
for  certain  mischievous  Anabaptists  who  had  their 
secret  conventicles  here.  Whereupon  her  Highness 
issueth  proclamation  against  them  ;  in  the  which 
she  also  chargeth  and  commandeth,  that  no  minister 
or  other  person  make  any  conventicles  or  secret  assem 
bling  to  use  any  manner  of  divine  service,  —  save  only 


1  Strype's  Grindal,  106  ;  Parker,  and  Grindal  to  Bullinger  and  Gual- 
154  ;  Annals,  I.  175,  264,  IE.  140.  ter. 

2  Zurich  Letters,  No.  CXI.,  Grin-  3  Strype's  Parker,  109.     Neal,  I. 
dal  to  Bullinger  ;  No.  CXXL,  Horn  87. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  215 

in  chambers  of  sickness  or  noblemen's  oratories,  —  on 
pain  to  be  imprisoned  without  bail  or  mainprise  until 
the  day  of  jail-delivery,  and  then  to  be  punished  at 
the  will  of  the  justice.  Dost  remember,  my  lord  ?  " l 

"I  remember  well.  It  was  to  prevent  all  pesti 
lence  of  heresy." 

"  So  be  it.  But  mark  you,  my  lord,  it  striketh  at 
any  manner  of  religious  worship  in  private  houses. 
There  seemeth  to  me  a  purpose  of  her  Highness  to 
suppress  all  worship  of  God  in  families,  whether  by 
no  Book  or  by  Book ;  which  is  a  way  to  make  house 
holds  godless." 

"  I  do  not  believe  that  were  her  Majesty's  intent," 
answered  Grindal,  who  was  yet  startled  and  troubled 
by  Co verd ale's  juxtaposition  of  things. 

"  Nevertheless,  according  to  the  letter  of  the  proc 
lamation,  I  may  be  dragged  to  prison  without  bail 
or  mainprise,  an  I  call  together  the  family  of  mine 
host  this  night  to  worship  God,  —  as  I  certainly 
shall  do." 

"I  think  thee  safe,  reverend  father,"  replied  the 
Bishop,  with  a  smile,  "  seeing  thou  art  no  Anabaptist. 
But  time  urgeth  me  away,  good  father.  How  about 
Landaff  ?  Have  I  thy  final  answer  ?  " 

"  In  sooth,  yes,  my  lord.  I  will  none  of  the  Popish 
badges.  I  trow  your  lordship  would  not  be  over 
much  pleased  to  see  Myles  Coverdale  in  a  trice  whip 
ped  out  of  a  bishopric  for  non-conformity.  Sorry 
satisfaction  to  you,  and  no  stay  of  living  to  me. 
Nay,  nay,  my  lord ;  I  have  but  few  days  left,  and 
would  preach  my  Master's  Gospel  in  peace.  I  can 
find  peace  only  in  obscurity." 

1  Stiype's  Grindal,  123. 


216  THE  KNOUT.  [On.  IX. 

66  And  in  penury  ?  " 

"  Better  is  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is,  than  a 
stalled  —  " 

"Tush!  It  is  unmeet;  it  is  unmeet.  Peradven- 
ture  there  be  found  some  stay  of  living  in  obscurity, 
where  some  chance  omissions  might  not  work  to 
thine  annoyance,  —  something,  mayhap,  under  the 
wing  of  thine  own  friend  and  son  in  God,  Edmund 
Grindal.  Wouldst  take  it  ?  " 

"  In  thine  own  diocese  ?  Good,  my  lord,  yes ;  with 
all  my  heart.  I  like  not  being  mendicant  friar.  It 
would  give  me  an  humble  independence;  which, 
with  serving  Christ,  is  all  I  can  ask." 

"I  thank  thee,  good  father.  I  shall  sleep  better 
to-night ;  and  better  still  when  thou  art  collated  to 
some  benefice  suiting  thy  two  wishes." 

"  Do  me  another  favor,  my  lord." 

«  Say  it." 

"Thou  hast  access  to  her  Majesty,  and  her  esteem. 
Thou  hast  a  heart  as  bold  towards  the  lofty  as  it  is 
gracious  to  the  lowly.  Thou  canst  not  persuade  her 
Highness  to  lay  down  her  Supremacy.  She  would 
sooner  pluck  out  her  right  eye.  But  thou  mayest, 
perchance,  on  fitting  opportunity,  reason  with  her  to 
moderate  it.  It  were  for  the  better  thrift  of  the 
Church,  and  the  greater  honoring  of  Christ." 

"  I  have  purpose  of  that  very  thing,  should  there 
be  meet  occasion.  Thy  words  quicken  it,  reverend 
sir.  To  my  humble  thinking,  she  doth  overstretch 
her  prerogative.  I  hold  it  not  meet,  that  in  ecclesi 
astical  matters  which  touch  religion,  or  the  doctrine 
and  discipline  of  the  Church,  she  referreth  them  not 
unto  the  bishops  and  divines  of  her  realm,  according 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  217 

to  the  example  of  godly  Christian  emperors  and 
princes  in  all  ages.  They  are,  in  sooth,  things  to  be 
judged  in  the  Church  or  Synod,  not  in  the  palace. 
When  her  Majesty  hath  questions  of  the  laws  of  the 
realm,  she  sendeth  them  to  her  civil  judges  to  be 
determined.  And  in  case  of  Church  doctrine  or 
discipline,  it  is  in  like  manner  becoming  to  refer 
them  to  the  ecclesiastical  judges.  Whereby  she 
would  procure  to  herself  much  quietness  of  mind, 
better  please  God,  avoid  contentions,  and  be  sure  to 
govern  the  Church  in  peace.1  A  storm,  I  fear  me, 
is  gathering  in  that  cloud  of  the  Supremacy,  albeit 
now  it  be  no  bigger  than  a  woman's  hand.  Thus, 
good  father,  I  judge  touching  her  Majesty's  Suprem 
acy.  And,  if  God  give  me  grace  and  opportunity,  I 
shall  tell  her  so.  Farewell." 

The  Bishop's  earnestness  for  Coverdale's  behoof 
soon  appeared;  for  in  this  month  or  the  next  he 
committed  to  the  venerable  man  the  church  and 
parish  of  St.  Magnus,  at  the  corner  of  Fish  Street,2 
near  the  bridge  foot  in  London ;  the  living  of  which 
amounted  to  about  sixty  pounds  a  year.  But  "  the 
destruction  of  the  poor  is  his  poverty."  Coverdale 
was  utterly  unable  to  pay  the  first-fruits,3  and  it  was 
a  maxim  with  the  queen,  from  which  she  rarely 
departed,  to  remit  no  claims  of  her  treasury.4  Thus 


1  Strype's  Grindal,  303.  enter  upon  a  living  and  neglect  to 

2  Strype's  Annals,  I.  254.  "  compound  "  within  a  time  appoint- 

3  The  "first-fruits"  was  the  first  ed  for  the   payment   of  his   dues, 
year's  income  of  a  benefice,  due  to  or  who   should  fail   to  pay  them, 
the  crown   whenever  the   minister  (Harrison  in  Holingshed,  Vol.  I.  p. 
should  take  possession.     It  was  pay-  230.) 

able  in  two  years.     A  heavy  penal-  *  Camden,   420.     Fuller's    Wor- 

ty  attached  to  any  one  who  should  thies,  II.  508. 
VOL.  I.                             28 


218  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

there  was  small  prospect  of  his  being  able  to  enter 
upon  the  benefice.  But  he  wrote  to  Archbishop 
Parker  on  the  29th  of  January,  1563-4,  pleading 
that  he  had  been  violently  ejected  from  his  bishopric 
in  the  last  reign,  that  he  had  received  no  benefit 
from  it  since,  that  he  was  now  penniless,  and  not  like 
to  live  a  year,  and  asking  his  Grace  to  join  the 
Bishop  of  London  in  moving  the  queen  to  remit  his 
first-fruits.  In  the  same  letter,  he  pledged  himself, 
by  God's  help,  to  be  both  faithful  and  quiet  in  his 
vocation.  To  Secretary  Cecil,  who  had  always  stood 
him  in  good  stead  in  former  straits,  he  also  wrote, 
on  the  6th  of  February :  "  If —  that  poor  old  Myles 
may  be  now  provided  for  —  it  pleaseth  thee  to 
obtain  this  for  me,  this  enough  shall  be  as  good  as 
a  feast." 

The  result  of  these  applications  was  a  message, 
about  the  middle  of  March,  from  the  Lord  Robert 
Dudley,  that  the  queen  had  granted  his  suit ;  until 
which,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  he  did  not  enter  upon 
his  cure.1 

The  Act  of  Uniformity  had  proved  a  failure. 
Many  Popish  priests,  upon  taking  the  Oath  of  Su 
premacy  and  subscribing  to  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  the  queen's  injunctions,  and  the  doctrines  of 
the  Eeformed  religion,  were  permitted  to  retain  their 
cures  and  livings,  although  "they  did  no  part  of 
duty  towards  their  miserable  flocks,"2  and  as  much 
as  they  dared  propagated  their  own  faith  among 

1  Strype's  Parker,  148, 149 ;  Grin-        2  Whittingham  to    Leicester,  in 
dal,  91.  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  p.  47. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  219 

their  parishioners.1  These,  and  some  others,  held 
that  religious  worship  was  profaned,  and  religious 
instruction  powerless,  without  the  priestly  apparel. 
By  all  such,  of  course,  it  was  scrupulously  worn. 

But  others  of  the  clergy  as  scrupulously  refused 
it;2  some,  without  censuring  those  who  complied; 
others,  abhorring  the  garments  as  polluting  to  the 
ministry,  considering  them  fitter  badges  of  pub 
lic  penance  than  of  God's  service.  Indeed,  some 
preached  against  them  boldly;  denouncing  them 
as  "conjuring  garments  of  Popery,"  "sibbe  to  the 
sarke  of  Hercules  that  made  him  tear  his  own 
bowels  asunder."3 

This  feeling,  and  this  disregard  of  law,  were  par 
ticularly  prevalent  in  London ;  and  extended,  not  to 
the  clerical  garments  alone,  but  to  religious  cere 
monies.4  Some  exercised  their  ministry  in  one 
way,  some  in  another;  every  deviator,  according 
to  his  own  like  or  dislike.  Indeed,  some  who  wore 
the  clerical  garments  disliked  them,  —  as  Pilkington, 

1  Strype's  Annals,  I.  264 ;  Parker,  ther.     In  one  case,  with  the  wafer ; 
77,  91.  in   another,   with    common    bread. 

2  Collier,  VI.  394.  Carte,  III.  420.  Communicants  received  in    differ- 

3  Strype's     Parker,     151,      156;  ent  postures,  kneeling,  standing,  sit- 
Grindal,  107;  Annals,  I.  520.     Ful-  ting. 

ler,  Bk.  IX.  p.  76.     Wright,  I.  169,  Some  baptized  with  surplice  and 

Bishop  Berkeley  to  Cecil.  the  sign  of  the  cross ;  some,  without 

4  Strype's  Parker,  151 ;  Grindal,  either;  some,  in  a  square  cap ;  some, 
96,  97;  Annals,  II.  129.  in  a  round  cap;  some,  in  a  button 

Some  read  the  service  in  the  pulpit,  cap ;  some,  in  a  hat. 

some  in  the  church ;  some  with  the  There  were  also  other  deviations 

surplice,  some  without.     Some  kept  from  the  prescribed  forms.     See  the 

to  the   order   of  the   Book;    some  report    of    "disorders,"    as     found 

deviated  at  pleasure.  among    Cecil's   MSS.,   dated    Feb. 

At  the  communion,  some  admin-  24,    1564-5,    in    Strype's    Life    of 

istered  with  surplice  and  cap ;  some,  Parker,  152. 
with  surplice  only ;  some,  with  nei- 


220  THE  KNOUT.  [On.  IX. 

Bishop  of  Durham,1  and  Grindal,  Bishop  of  London, 
who  avowed,  even  to  men  standing  before  him 
on  arraignment  in  his  own  Court  of  Commission, 
that  "he  would  rather  minister  without  cope  and 
surplice,  but  for  order  sake  and  obedience  to  the 
queen."  In  short,  there  was  no  uniformity.2 

However  the  presence  of  the  plague  may  have 
interfered  with  the  correction  of  these  diversities,3 
there  were  other  and  more  essential  impediments. 
The  bishops  themselves  were  in  the  way.  They  had 
pledged  themselves  not  to  press  their  clergy  in  these 
things ;  but  rather,  to  seek  their  removal,  in  which 
they  had  failed ;  and  although  in  their  Convocation 
of  1562-3  they  had  passed  canons  to  correct  non 
conformity,  most  of  them  still  connived  at  it,  as  far 
as  they  could  with  safety.4  Even  the  queen's  com 
missioners  had  a  great  aversion  to  such  habits  and 
ceremonies  as  were  considered  Popish.5 

The    Puritan   clergy   were    willing    to    be   distin- 


1  Strype's  Parker,  155.  culiar   "  notes,"  or  insignia,   of  an 

2  Strype's  Grindal,  118.    Heylin's  idolatrous,    Antichristian     religion. 
Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  1 7.  And  so  they  were. 

3  Strype's  Grindal,  9G.  The  reasons  in  support  of  these 
*  Strype's  Parker,  154,  155,  156  ;  objections  have  been  shown  in  our 

Appendix,  XXIV.,  Queen's  Letter,  recitation  of  Hooper's  plea  before 

5  Strype's  Parker,  99.  the  king  and  Council. 

The  objections  urged  by  Hooper  Whittingham,  in  his  letter  to  Lei- 

against  the  prelatical  vestments  only,  cester  in  1564,  expresses  in  strong 

were  now  urged  against  all  the  gar-  but     truthful    language    the    utter 

ments  required  of  the  clergy,  wheth-  abhorrence    in    which    the    habits 

er  in  their  public  ministrations  or  in  were  held  by  many ;  ".  chiefly,"  says 

their  ordinary  life ;  and  also  against  Strype,  (Annals,  II.  125,)  "  such  as 

certain  ceremonies  required  in  min-  had  lived  in  the  churches  abroad, 

istering  the  Word  and  the  Sacra-  where  they  were  not  used."     Whit- 

ments.      The   sum   of  these   objec-  tingham's  words  are  :  "  Poor  policy  ! 

tions  was,  —  the  things  required  are  to  deck  the  spouse  of  Christ  with  the 

"  remainders  of  Popery,"  —  the  pe-  ornaments  of  the  Babylonish  strum- 


CH.  IX.J  THE  KNOUT.  221 

guished  by  their  apparel  from  the  common  people. 
They  only  prayed  to  be  also  distinguished  by  their 
apparel  from  the  Popish  priests.1  Whittingham,  the 
Dean  of  Durham,  in  his  earnest  pleading  with  the 
Earl  of  Leicester,  writes :  "  We  refuse  not  to  wear 
such  apparel  as  shall  be  thought  to  the  godly  and 
prudent  magistrates  most  decent  to  our  vocation, 
and  to  discern  us  from  men  of  other  callings,  so  that 
we  may  ever  keep  ourselves  pure  from  the  defiled  robes  of 
Antichrist."  2  They  maintained,  that  though  in  them 
selves  the  garments  were  neither  good  nor  bad,  and 
were  not  referred  to  in  the  Bible,  yet  to  use  them, 
associated  as  they  had  been  and  still  were  with  a  false  and 
idolatrous  religion,  was  a  grievous  wrong  to  the  true 
Church. 

First.  Because  "  to  use  the  outward  show  and 
manner  of  the  wicked,  is  to  approve  their  false 
doctrine.  God  forbid  that  we,  by  wearing  the  Popish 
attire,"  —  it  was  Popish  as  well  as  academical,  —  "  as 
a  thing  but  indifferent,  should  seem  thereby  to  con 
sent  to  their  blasphemies  and  heresies." 3  "  They 
were  in  the  same  case,"  said  the  Dean  of  Durham, 
"as  a  certain  Christian  soldier  was,  in  the  days  of 

pet,  or  force  true  preachers  to  be  stated  by  referring  to  Strype's  An- 

like   in   outward   show   to    Christ's  nals,  II.   125,    163-168;    Strype's 

enemies."      (Strype's   Parker,   Ap-  Parker,  171;  Neal,  I.  96,  note,  and 

pendix,  XXVII.)  99,  note ;   and    to    the    letters    of 

Grindal    and    others  argued,   as  Bishop     Pilkington   and  "VVhitting- 

did  Hooper's  opponents,  that  these  ham,  in  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix, 

things  were  neither  commanded  nor  Nos.  XXV.  and  XXVII. 
forbidden  in   Scripture,  and  there-         *  Pilkington,  Bishop  of  Durham, 

fore  might  be,  and  were,  made  ob-  to  Leicester ;  Strype's  Parker,  Ap- 

ligatory  by  civil  statute.      (Grindal  pendix,  p.  40. 
in  court ;  Strype's  Grindal,  117.)  2  Ibid.,  46. 

The  reader  will  find  the  Puritan        3  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  p. 

positions  and  arguments  more  fully  44  ;  Whittingham  to  Leicester. 


222  THE  KNOUT.  [On.  IX. 

Paganism,  who  would  not  wear  a  garland,  as  did 
his  fellows,  lest  he  should  seem  to  consent  with  idola 
ters,  and  so  bring  true  religion  into  doubt.  Many 
of  his  fellow-Christians  disapproved,  that,  for  so  small 
a  trifle,  he  would  hazard  the  Emperor's  favor,  and  so 
his  own  life.  They  said,  (  It  was  not  against  the  Scrip 
tures.'  But  Tertullian  justified  him,  saying,  'that 
if  it  could  be  said  that  wearing  the  garland  was 
lawful  because  it  was  not  forbidden  in  Scripture,  it 
could  be  retorted,  that  it  was  not  lawful  because 
it  was  not  commanded."1 

Second.  Because  the  use  of  these  garments  would 
help  to  reconcile  "  simple  Christians  "  to  idolatry,  and 
help  to  confirm  Papists.2  "  The  prebendaries  in  the 
cathedrals,"  said  they,  —  and  they  knew  what  they 
affirmed,  —  "  and  the  parish  priests  in  other  churches, 
retaining  the  outward  habits  and  inward  feeling  of 
Popery,  so  fascinate  the  ears  and  eyes  of  the  multi 
tude,  that  they  are  unable  to  believe  but  that  either 
the  Popish  doctrine  is  retained,  or  at  least  that  it 
will  shortly  be  restored." 3  "  The  Lord's  men  in  the 
ship  of  Christ  ought  not  to  creep  so  near  the  flats 
and  rocks,  as  to  put  their  whole  charge  in  danger 
of  perishing  by  falling  on  them." 4  "  If  we  compel 
the  godly  to  conform  themselves  to  the  Papists,  I  fear 
greatly  lest  we  fall  to  Papism"  wrote  Whittingham.5 

Third.  Because  the  prince  has  no  right  to  infringe 
upon  Christian  liberty.  "  None  can  call  this  Christian 
liberty,  where  a  yoke  is  laid  on  the  disciple's  neck, 

1  Strypc's  Parker,  Appendix,  p.        3  Zurich  Letters,  No.  LIE. ;  Lever 
44  ;  Wliittingham  to  Leicester.  to  Bullinger. 

2  Strype's    Annals,    II.  164   (fol.         *  Strype's  Annals,  II.  165. 

edit.  I.  485).  6  Strype's  Parker,  Append.,  p.  46. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  223 

where  the  conscience  is  clogged,  true  preachers 
threatened,  the  course  of  God's  Word  stayed,  the 
congregations  spoiled  of  godly  and  learned  pastors, 
and  the  sacraments  brought  under  subjection  of 
idolatrous  and  superstitious  vestments." l  "  The 
prince  has  no  right  thus  to  yoke  Christian  men. 
He  has  no  right  to  enjoin  things  in  themselves  indif 
ferent,  when  the  circumstances  of  the  times  render 
their  use  hurtful ;  and  none  to  forbid  things  in  them 
selves  indifferent,  when  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  make  their  use  necessary  to  the  edification  of 
the  Church." 2  In  either  case,  he  would  "  not  only 
manifestly  infringe  upon  Christian  liberty,  but  would 
cause  the  whole  religion  of  Christ  to  be  esteemed 
no  other  thing  than  the  pleasure  of  princes."3  In 
other  words,  compulsion  in  religious  matters  is  beyond 
the  prerogative  of  the  magistrate.  Commandment 
herein  is  a  tyranny. 

Thus  were  initiated  the  grand  questions,  —  What 
are  the  rights  of  the  prince  ?  what,  the  rights  of  the 
subject  ? 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1564  there  was  "  a 
common  report  that  great  offence  was  taken"  —  at 
Court  — K  with  some  of  the  ministers,  for  not  using 
such  apparel  as  the  rest,"  4  and  "  that  a  decree  was 
either  passed  or  at  hand  to  compel  the  wearing  of 
the  old  Popish  apparel,  or  the  loss  of  livings  and 
deposition  from  the  ministry."5  This  report  was 


1  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  p.        4  Pilkington  to  Leicester,  "  Oct. 
44  5  Whittingham  to  Leicester.  25, 1564." 

2  Strype's  Annals,  II.  166.  5  Whittingham      to      Leicester, 

3  Ibid.  «  1564." 


224  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

received  with  great  apprehension,  and  regarded  as 
"  the  malice  of  Satan,  to  raise  great  trouble  in  trifles, 
where  he  could  not  overthrow  the  greatest  matters  "; 
"  to  thrust  from  their  ministry,  for  so  small  things, 
many  who  were  ready  to  leave  it  and  their  livings, 
rather  than  be  like  Popish  teachers  in  apparel  or 
behavior ;  and  thus  to  leave  many  places  destitute 
of  preachers."1  Such  were  the  opinions  of  a  con 
forming  bishop.  Efforts  were  accordingly  made,  by 
letters  of  appeal,  and  by  making  personal  influence 
at  Court,  to  forestall  and  baffle  the  movement.2  The 
rumors  were  not  without  foundation. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1564-5,3  the  queen  took 
her  first  step  in  the  matter  by  addressing  a  letter  to 
her  metropolitan.  "  Ceremonial  diversities  in  the 
Church,"  was  her  strange  postulate,  "must  needs 
provoke  the  displeasure  of  Almighty  God,  and  bring 
danger  of  ruin  to  the  people  and  country.  It  had 
therefore  been  her  earnest  care  to  prevent  diversi- 


1  Pilkington  to  Leicester,  "  Oct.  disorders  existed,  and  to  certify  the 
25,  1564."  same  to   him  "  by  the  last  day  of 

2  Strype's  Parker,  156  ;  Append.  February  at  farthest."   Accordingly, 
Nos.  XXV.  and  XXVII.     Warner,  Feb.  14th,  —  not  24th,  as  in  Neal,  — 
H.  431,432.  1564-5,  there  lies  on  Cecil's  table 

3  The   queen's   letter   is  without  a  report  of  "  disorders,"  —  the  sub- 
date,  except  as  prefixed  by  Strype,  stance  of  which  is  given   ante,   p. 
who  has  made  a  mistake  of  three  219,  note  4,  —  doubtless  the  sum- 
days.      On  the   30th   of   January,  mary  of  them  as  rendered  in  obedi- 
1564,  —  i.  e.  1565  as  we  reckon, —  ence  to  the  Archbishop.      (Strype's 
Parker  wrote  to  Grindal,  saying  that  Parker,  152.) 

the  queen,  by  letter  "  on  the  twenty-  When,  therefore,  Mr.  Neal  says 
eighth  day  of  this  present  month,"  that  the  queen's  letter  was  pro- 
had  required  him  to  investigate  dis-  voked  by  the  report  made  to  Cecil, 
orders,  &c.  The  letters  are  in  the  he  simply  says  that  February  comes 
Appendix  to  Strype's  Parker,  Nos.  before  January.  The  report  was 
XXIV.  and  XXVI.  Parker  re-  caused  by  her  Majesty's  letter,  not 
quired  Grindal  to  ascertain  what  the  letter  by  the  report. 


CH.  IX.]  THE   KNOUT.  225 

ties  of  opinions  or  novelties  of  rites.      But  notwith 
standing, —  through  the  negligence  of  her  bishops, 
—  varieties,  not  only  of  opinions,  but  of  external 
ceremonies,  had  crept  in,  and  were  on  the  increase." 
Upon   these   premises,   her    Majesty   proceeded    to 
declare  her  will  and  purpose.     "  We,  considering  the 
authority  given   to  us  by  Almighty  God,  .  .  .  and 
how  we  are   answerable  ...  to  the  seat  of  his  high 
justice,   mean  not  to   endure   or  suffer   any  longer 
these  evils  in  our  realm,  but  have  certainly  deter 
mined   to  have    all    such   diversities  ...  to  be    re 
formed    and   repressed    and    brought    to    one    uni 
formity   through    our   whole    realm   and  dominions. 
.  .  .   And  therefore  we  do  by  these  our  present  let 
ters  .  .  .    straitly   charge    you,    being    the    metro 
politan,  ...  to  cause  to  be   truly  understood  what 
varieties  .  .  .  there    are    in    our  clergy,   or    among 
our  people,  .  .  .  and   to    require    reformation,  .  .  . 
so   as  uniformity  of   order   may  be  kept  in    every 
church.   .  .  .  And  we   straitly  charge  you,  that  none 
be  hereafter  admitted  or  allowed  to  any  ....  place 
ecclesiastical,  .  .  .  but   such  as  shall  be  found  .  .  . 
well   and    advisedly   given   to    common    order,  .  .  . 
and  shall  promise  to  use  the  same  office  in  truth, 
concord,  and  unity,  and  also  to  observe  ...  all  the 
external  rites   and    ceremonies.  .  .  .  We    intend    to 
have    no    dissension   or  variety  grow,  by  suffering 
of  persons  which   maintain  the   same  to  remain  in 
authority.      For  so  the   sovereign   authority   which 
we  have  under  Almighty  God  should  be  violate  and 
made   frustrate,  and  we  might  be  well  thought  to 
bear  the  sword  in  vain.     And  in  execution  hereof, 
we  require  you  to  use  all  expedition,  that  hereafter 

VOL.    I.  20 


226  THE   KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

we  be  not  occasioned,  for  lack  of  your  diligence, 
to  provide  such  further  remedy  by  some  other  sharp 
proceedings  as  shall  perchance  not  be  easy  to  be  borne  by 
such  as  shall  be  disordered."1 

Two  days  after  the  date  of  this  missive,  the  Pri 
mate,  in  his  turn,  issued  orders  to  the  Bishop  of 
London  to  take  measures  accordingly ;  in  particular, 
that  he  should  cause  to  be  reported  to  his  Grace, 
"by  the  last  day  of  February  next  to  come,  at 
farthest,"  all  incorrigible  persons,  and  also  all  the 
existing  varieties  and  disorders.2 

This  report  was  rendered,  and  by  the  Archbishop 
was  laid  before  Mr.  Secretary  Cecil  on  the  14th  of 
February.  In  it  were  specified  "  the  confused  varie 
ties  that  divers  ministers  used  in  the  service  of  God, 
and  in  their  habits  which  they  wore." 3 

For  carrying  into  effect  her  Majesty's  purpose  and 
command,  the  Archbishop,  with  the  help  of  four 
other  bishops,  then  drew  up  a  Book  of  Articles  for 
enforcing  uniformity.  The  orders  therein  set  down, 
which  it  chiefly  concerns  us  to  note,  were  :  —  1.  That 
all  licenses  to  preach  which  were  granted  before  the 
first  day  of  March,  1564—5,  should  be  void,  —  i.  e.  all 
preachers  throughout  the  kingdom  were  at  once  dis 
qualified.  2.  A  minute  prescript  of  apparel  to  be 
worn  by  ecclesiastical  persons.4  3.  Certain  prom- 


1  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  No.  head   in   the   book.     Yet  it  should 
XXIV.  be  remembered  that  the  Dissenters 

2  Ibid.,  No.  XXVI.  did  not  object  even  to  such  Phari- 

3  Strype's  Parker,  152.  saical  exactness.     It  was  only  with 

4  As  this  matter  of  apparel  was  the   Popish  pattern   they   were   of- 
the  chief  matter  of  controversy,  I  fended.    Compare    infra,  p.  381. 
give  an  abstract  of  the  whimsical         Item  2.  All  deans    of   cathedral 
and   annoying    articles   under   this  churches,   masters  of  colleges,  &c., 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  227 

ises  to  be  made  by  those  who  should  take  out  new 
licenses.  Of  these  promises  —  the  subscribing  of 
which  was  the  condition  of  licensure  —  the  most 
important  were,  not  to  preach  but  by  special  license 
of  the  bishop  under  his  seal;  to  use  the  apparel 
according  to  order  appointed ;  and  to  maintain  such 
order  and  uniformity,  in  all  external  policy,  rites, 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  as  are  already  es 
tablished.1 

On  the  3d  of  March,  the  Archbishop  made  a  pre 
liminary  movement,  by  summoning  before  the  eccle 
siastical  commissioners  four  London  ministers,  and 
two  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  Non-conformists, 
—  Sampson,  Dean  of  Christ's  Church  at  Oxford,  and 
Humphrey,  President  of  Magdalen  College.  This 
was  merely  to  inquire  into  their  reasons  for  non 
conformity,2  to  argue  with  them  mildly,  to  exhort 
them  to  conformity,  and  to  advertise  them  of  com 
ing  deprivation  if  they  did  not  comply.3 

On  the  8th,  the  Archbishop  sent  his  Book  to  Cecil ; 
urging  that  it  should  pass  the  Council  and  receive 


&c.,     in     their    common     apparel  liberty  of  comely  apparel.     Item  7. 
abroad,    shall  wear    a  side   gown,  All  other  inferior  ecclesiastical  per- 
with  sleeves  straight  at  the  hand,  sons  shall  wear  long  gowns  of  the 
without  any  cuts  in  the  same  ;  also  fashion  abovesaid,  and  caps  as  afore 
a  tippet  of  silk;  but  no  falling  cape,  is  prescribed.     Item   8.    Poor  par- 
Item  3.  All  ecclesiastical  persons,  or  sons,  &c.,  if  their  ability  will  not 
others   having  ecclesiastical   living,  suffer  them  to  buy  them  long  gowns 
shall  wear  the  cap  appointed,  and  of  the  form  prescribed,  shall  wear 
no    hat   but   in   their   journeyings.  short   ones   of  the    same    pattern. 
Item  4.  In  their  journeyings   they  (Sparrow,  127,  128.     Strype's  Par- 
shall  wear  their  cloaks  with  sleeves  ker,  Appendix,  p.  51.) 
put  on,  and  like  in  fashion  to  their  1  Sparrow,   123-129.       Strype's 
gown,   without   guards,    welts,    or  Parker,  Append.  No.  XXV Hi. 
cuts.       Item    5.    In    their    private  2  Strype's  Parker,  162. 
houses,   they  may   use    their  own  3  Strype's  Annals,  II.  129. 


228  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

the  queen's  authority,  without  which  it  could  not 
have  the  strength  of  law,1  and  would  be  "  like  to  lie 
in  the  dust."  On  the  same  day,  Sampson  and  Hum 
phrey  signified  to  him  that  they  could  not  change 
their  minds ;  on  the  same  day  he  had  the  mortifica 
tion  to  receive  the  Council's  refusal  to  ratify  his 
Book  of  Articles;  and  on  the  same  day,  being 
"somewhat  chafed,"  and  "in  some  heat/'  he  wrote 
to  Cecil :  "  If  this  ball  be  tossed  to  us,  and  then  we 
have  no  authority  by  the  Queen's  Majesty's  hand, 
we  will  sit  still.  If  you  remedy  it  not  by  letter,  I 
will  no  more  strive  against  the  stream,  fume  or  chide 
who  will."2 

The  Lord  Robert  Dudley,  now  the  Earl  of  Leices 
ter,  whatever  his  perfidy  in  other  cases,  was  now 
true  to  his  pledge  and  policy  of  befriending  the  Dis 
senters, —  for  the  sake  of  plaguing  the  Archbishop, 
against  whom  he  had  a  private  grudge,  and  of  serv 
ing  his  own  by-ends.3  He,  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  the 
Lord  North,  and  some  others,  at  Court  and  of  the 
Council,  secretly  endeavored  to  thwart,  or  at  least 
to  embarrass,  these  vigorous  disciplinary  measures.4 
At  this  juncture,  they  interposed  their  influence,  and 
persuaded  her  Majesty  to  evade  the  odium5  of  these 
measures,  by  refusing  her  sanction  to  the  very  book 
which  had  been  drawn  up  in  obedience  to  her  own 
order.6 


1  Strype's  Annals,   TL.    131,  and  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  28,  29.     Warner,  H 
1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.  Sec.  XIII.  431,  432. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  158,  159,  160,  5  Collier,  VI.  401. 

162.  e  Strype's     Parker,     159,     160; 

3  Ibid.,  156.  Annals,  II.  130. 

*  Strype's     Parker,     155,     160;  "It    was    difficult    to    find    her 

Annals,   II.   129.     Heylin's  Presb.,  right    humor    at    any    time.     Her 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  229 

But  the  queen  being  privately  earnest  and  resolute 
with  his  Grace,  and  urging  that  his  canonical  author 
ity,  supported  by  that  of  the  commissioners,  was 
sufficient  of  itself,  they  were  constrained  to  enforce 
the  Book  of  Articles,  although  they  could  print  it 
in  their  own  names  only,  and  by  "  a  modester  denom 
ination,  viz.  Advertisements." 1 

There  was  hardly  a  man  at  this  time  in  greater 
esteem  than  John  Fox.  His  "  Acts  and  Monuments 
of  the  Martyrs,"  published  in  1563,  and  containing 
a  history  of  the  cruelties  of  Pagan  and  Popish  per 
secutors  of  the  Church,  was  in  such  repute,  that  the 
Convocation  of  1571  ordered  every  archbishop,  bish 
op,  dean,  and  archdeacon,  to  place  it  with  the 
Bible  in  their  halls  and  dining-rooms  for  the  use 
of  guests  and  servants.2  As  some  reward  of  this  his 
labor,  her  Majesty  had  lately  bestowed  upon  him  the 
prebend  of  Shipton,  belonging  to  the  church  of 
Sarum,  or  Salisbury.  She  was  particularly  "con 
tented  "  with  him,  however,  because  he  had  told  her 
that  he  had  divers  " monuments"  of  herself  which  he 

wisest    men   and   best    counsellors  Herein  her  wise  men  did  oft  lack 

were  oft  sore  troubled  to  know  her  more  wisdom ;  and  the  Lord  Treas- 

will  in  matters  of  state ;  so  covert-  urer  Cecil  would  oft  shed  a  plenty 

ly  did   she   pass  her  judgment,  as  of  tears   on  any  miscarriage,  well 

seemed  to  leave  all  to  their  discreet  knowing  the  difficult  part  was,  not 

management ;  and  when  the  busi-  so  much  to  mend  the  matter  itself, 

ness  did  turn  to  better  advantage,  as  his  mistress's  humor."  —  Harring- 

she  did  most  cunningly  commit  the  ton's  Nugae  Antiquae,  I.  357,  358. 
good  issue  to  her  own  honor  and        x  Strype's  Parker,  158,  1G1;  An- 

understanding ;  but  when  aught  fell  nals,   II.    131.      Collier,    VI.    400. 

out  contrary  to  her  will  and  intent,  Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  17. 
the  Council  were  in  great  strait  to        2  Strype's  Parker,  322.     Heylin's 

defend  their  own   acting   and   not  Presb.,  Bk.  VH.  Sec.  41.     Collier, 

blemish  the  queen's  good  judgment.  VI.  500. 


230  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

had  thought  of  compiling  into  her  History,  but  that 
he  would  rather  transfer  the  task  to  her  own  royal 
pen,  for  none  could  do  it  better ! l 

"  Though  the  richest  mitre  of  England  would  have 
counted  itself  preferred  by  being  placed  on  his  head, 
he  contented  himself  with  his  prebend,  pleased  with 
his  own  obscurity.  Whilst  proud  people  stretched 
out  their  plumes  in  ostentation,  he  used  their  vanity 
for  his  shelter ;  more  pleased  to  have  worth,  than  to 
have  others  take  notice  of  it."2  He  had  his  own 
notions  in  King  Edward's  day  about  "  mathematical 
caps  with  four  corners,"  and  "  theatrical  dresses,"  on 
ministers  of  the  Gospel.  His  dislike  of  these  Popish 
insignia  had  been  confirmed  during  his  exile,  partic 
ularly  by  what  happened  at  Frankfort,  —  for  he  was 
there  with  Whittingham  and  Cox;  so  that,  at  this 
time,  he  detested  the  Popish  garments  as  much  as  he 
did  Popery,  which  was  as  much  as  he  did  Sin,  which 
was  as  much  as  he  could.  He  was  as  firmly  rooted 
in  his  opinions  as  an  English  oak  in  its  soil ;  yet  he 
was  a  mild  and  gentle  man,  never  troubling  others 
who  did  not  think  and  do  as  he  did. 

It  was  proposed  to  show  the  seriousness  of  the 
queen's  purposes,  and  to  test  the  efficacy  of  her  new 
commands,  by  citing  one  so  high  in  her  esteem  as 
he,  and  so  widely  known  and  honored.  Lesser  folks 
could  not  hope  to  escape,  if  he  were  taken  in  hand. 
"  Subscribe  ! "  he  exclaimed,  when  called  before  the 
commissioners  to  sign  the  promises  annexed  to  the 
Book  of  Advertisements,  —  "  yes,  sirs  !  I  will  subscribe 
to  this?  taking  a  Greek  Testament  from  his  pocket ; 
"and  if  this  will  not  serve,  take  my  prebend  of 

1  Strype's  Parker,  188.  2  Fuller's  Abel  Redivivus,  381. 


CH.  IX.]  THE   KNOUT.  231 

Salisbury.  It  is  my  only  preferment  in  the  Church. 
May  it  do  ye  much  good,  if  ye  take  it !  "  The  ex 
periment  was  a  failure  ;  for  the  commissioners  would 
not  venture  upon  punishing  such  a  man.  He  kept 
both  his  resolution  and  his  prebend  "  to  the  day  of 
his  death ;  such  respect  did  the  bishops  (most,  for 
merly  his  fellow-exiles)  have  to  his  age,  parts,  and 
pains."1 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  the  commissioners 
cited  many  of  the  dissenting  clergy ;  conferred  with 
them ;  admonished  and  threatened.  The  proceeding 
was  unfortunate ;  for  so  lame  was  the  cause  of  Pre 
cisianism,  that  the  commissioners  were  hard  pushed 
in  the  conference,  and  gave  the  others  opportunity 
publicly  to  utter  other  "  contrarious "  opinions  than 
those  against  the  vestments.  "I  wish,"  wrote  the 
Archbishop  to  Cecil,  on  the  24th  of  the  month,  soon 
after  this  conference,  "I  wish  that  you  either  had 
not  stirred  in  this  affair,  or  at  the  outset  had  sanc 
tioned  it ; for  when  these  men  see  how  the 

game  goes,  they  return  only  the  more  refractory. 
Not  only  are  the  rites  of  apparel,  now,  in  danger, 
but  all  other  rites  universally r" 2  They  had  publicly 
opened  the  whole  question  against  the  various  cere 
monies  ordained  by  law  ! 

On  the  same  day  —  probably  after  this  letter  was 
written  —  the  Archbishop,  with  the  Bishop  of  Lon 
don  and  others,  sat  in  ecclesiastical  commission  at 
Lambeth,  resolved  to  "  enjoin  from  that  day  forward  " 
the  use  of  the  gown  and  cap.3  In  answer  to  sum- 

1  Fuller's  Ecclesiastical   History,         2  Strype's  Parker,   161 ;  Annals, 
Bk.  IX.  p.  76.     Heylin's  Reforma-     II.  129. 
tion,  337.  3  Strype's  Grindal,  98. 


232  THE  KNOUT.  [On.  IX. 

mons,  there  appeared  before  them  one  hundred  and 
forty  clergymen,  some  of  them  the  Archbishop's 
"peculiars  in  the  city/'  some  whose  livings  were 
in  Southwark  on  the  other  side  of  the  Thames,  and 
some  ministers  of  London.1  They  were  required  to 
promise,  by  their  several  subscriptions,  "  to  wear  the 
surplice  at  all  divine  administrations,  and  to  observe 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  was  appointed  by 
the  statute,"  or  be  immediately  sequestered  from 
their  livings  and  —  upon  three  months'  obstinacy  — 
to  be  deprived. 

There  was  a  minister  of  London  —  Thomas  Cole 
—  who  had  hitherto  refused  the  habits,  but  had  been 
persuaded  to  resume  them.  Him,  therefore,  —  as  if 
by  way  of  atonement,  —  the  commissioners  now 
placed  conspicuously  by  their  side,  clad  in  the  ap 
proved  mode,  —  a  visible  pattern  to  his  brethren. 
"My  masters,  and  ye  ministers  of  London!"  the 
Bishop's  Chancellor  then  said,  "  ye  see  this  man 
here,  with  a  square  cap  on,  a  scholar's  gown  priest- 
like,  and  a  tippet.  It  is  the  pleasure  of  the  Council 
that  ye  do  strictly  keep  the  unity  of  apparel  like 
him ;  and  that,  in  the  church,  ye  do  severally  wear 
the  linen  surplice.  Moreover,  that  ye  do  inviolably 
observe  the  directions  printed  in  the  Book  of  Com 
mon  Prayer,  the  Queen's  Majesty's  Injunctions,  and 
the  Canons  of  the  Convocation.  Ye  that  will  sub 
scribe,  write  Volo.  Ye  that  will  not,  write  Nolo. 
Be  brief.  Make  no  words." 

Some  of  the  ministers  attempted  to  speak.  "Peace ! 
peace  ! "  cried  the  Chancellor.  "  Apparitor  !  call  over 
the  churches.  Let  each  minister  give  his  answer 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  98,  99  ;   Annals,  II.  129. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  233 

when  his  church  is  named.  Masters !  answer  in 
stantly,  under  penalty  of  contempt  of  court ;  and 
set  your  names.  " l 

It  was  piteous  to  read  the  consternation  and 
distress  upon  almost  every  face ;  to  see  the  mute 
struggle  there  between  fear  of  poverty  and  fear  of 
God ;  to  see  hearts  of  oak  heave,  as  each  man  wrote 
his  name.  Thirty  of  them  wrote  Nob;*  were  sus 
pended  ;  and  went  away  sad,  but  trusting  in  God. 
The  assenters  departed,  mourning  and  crying  out  in 
anguish,  "  We  are  killed !  we  are  killed  in  the  soul 
of  our  souls,  for  this  pollution  of  ours ;  for  that  we 
cannot  perform  our  holy  ministry  in  the  singleness 
of  our  hearts  ! " 3 

It  was  now  that  the  dissenters  were  first  called 
PURITANS,  "  as  men  that  did  profess  a  greater  purity  in 
the  worship  of  God,  and  a  greater  detestation  of  the 
ceremonies  and  corruptions  of  Rome,  than  the  rest 
of  their  brethren."  4 

Admonition  and  threatening  did  not  prevail. 
Severer  measures  were  therefore  resolved  upon, 
although  the  requiring  of  subscription  had  no  au 
thority  of  law,  and  although  the  Bishop  of  London, 
"  whose  temper  was  naturally  mild,  was  averse  from 
vigorous  measures."  He  seems,  however,  to  have 
been  gained  over  to  more  show  of  vigor,  by  a  per 
emptory  letter  from  the  queen,  to  whose  express 
authority  only  would  he  yield  in  such  a  case.5 
Sampson  and  Humphrey  were  detained  in  London  a 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  98.  Bk.  IX.  p.  76.     Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk. 

2  Strype's    Grindal,    99  ;  Annals,     VI.  Sec.  1 7  ;    lief.,  p.  344. 

H.  1 30.  5  Strype's  Parker,  161,162;  Grin- 

3  Strype's  Grindal,  98.  dal,  97. 

4  Strype's  Parker,   192.     Fuller, 
VOL.  i.  30 


234  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

year  or  more,  by  command  of  the  commissioners. 
"Bishop  Grindal  prayed  Sampson,  even  with  tears, 
that  he  would  but  now  and  then,  in  the  public 
meetings  of  the  University,  put  on  the  square  cap ; 
but  he  could  not  prevail."  Both  refused  to  conform, 
and  were  ordered  into  custody,  though  not  to  prison. 
Sampson  was  deprived  of  his  deanery.1 

Others  also,  who  would  not  come  under  obligations 
to  use  the  habits,  were  suspended  from  their  min 
istry,  to  be  deprived  after  three  months  if  they  did 
not  comply.2 

For  a  while  these  proceedings,  which  were  irksome 
to  the  bishops,  were  now  suspended  ; 3  and  when,  in 
January,  1565—6,  the  Archbishop  intended  to  revive 
them,  he  found  himself  embarrassed.  The  dissenters 
had  such  repute  as  men  of  parts,  that  "they  were 
much  put  up  to  preach  public  sermons  "  \  and  though 
they  did  so  before  the  queen  without  the  habits, 
they  escaped  censure.4  The  example  of  London 

1  Stiype's  Parker,  162,  184-18G.  Afterwards  lie  obtained  the  master- 
Collier,  VI.  402.  Heyl.  Ref.,  336.  ship  of  the  hospital  at  Leicester 
Warner,  II.  431,432.  Wood's  Athe-  (besides  the  prebend  of  St.  Pan- 
nae,  I.  550.  eras  in  the  cathedral  church  of  St. 

"In    1560,  the   queen   designed  Paul),  where,  continuing  for  some 

Sampson  to  be  Bishop  of  Norwich,  time  in  teaching,  he  was,  by  leave 

He  refused,  for  no  other  reason,  it  and  favor  of  the  queen,  permitted 

was    supposed,  but   disaffection   to  to  be  a  theological  lecturer  in  Whit- 

the   hierarchy   and    ceremonies    of  tington  College,  in  London.    In  less 

the  Church.     In  1561,  he  was  in-  than  six  years  after,  he  was  taken 

stalled  Dean   of  Christ  Church  in  with  palsy,  but  preached  and  wrote 

Oxon.   He  was  an  enemy  to  organs,  the  rest  of  his  days.     He  died  April 

ornaments   of  the   church,   clerical  9th,  1589,  aged  72  years." — Wood's 

vestments,    and    the    square    cap;  Athense,  I.  550,  551.    (Strype's  An- 

always,    like    Humphrey,    wearing  nals,  II.  150.) 

the  round  cap.     After  many  admo-  2  Strype's  Parker,  187. 

nitions  to   conform,  and  entreaties  3  Ibid.,  156,  211. 

from  the  bishops  so  to  do,  he  was  re-  *  Ibid.,  213. 
moved  from  his  deanery  in  1564[?]. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  235 

would  control  the  nation;  and  it  was  therefore 
thought  necessary  first  to  revive  the  discipline  there. 
But  the  London  clergy  "  generally  "  yet  forbore  the 
observance  of  the  surplice  and  the  rites  prescribed ; 
they  were  more  averse  to  them  than  were  any  others 
in  the  land;  they  were  in  great  favor  and  esteem 
in  the  city ;  they,  and  their  brethren  who  conformed 
but  disliked  compulsion,  were  again  bestirring  against 
it  men  of  influence  in  the  Court ;  and,  though  the 
Archbishop  and  the  commissioners  had  power  both  to 
deprive  and  to  imprison,  his  Grace  was  shy  of  pro 
ceeding  to  these  extreme  measures  against  such  a 
"  stream,"  and  with  only  her  Majesty's  verbal  or 
der.1 

In  these  straits,  on  the  12th  of  March,  he  again 
appealed  to  Cecil.  "These  cold  doings,  delays,  tol 
erations,"  he  said,  "  to  which  he  had  been  persuaded 
upon  political  considerations,  he  did  noways  approve. 
Hurt  came  of  them.  The  parties  hardened  in  their 
disobedience.  The  queen's  displeasure  was  incurred, 
to  see  how  her  commandment  took  little  effect. 
Some  of  these  men  offered  themselves  to  lose  all, 
yea,  and  their  bodies  to  prison,  rather  than  they 
will  condescend.  But  such  vigorous  courses  he  did 
not  think  fit  to  attempt,  having  no  more  warrant 
and  help;  lest,  after  much  stirring,  he  might  do 
little  in  the  end  but  hurt.  Some  whom  it  behooved 
to  help  him  declined,  as  much  as  they  could,  med 
dling  any  more  in  the  matter,  got  their  heads  out 
of  the  collar,  and  left  the  odium  upon  those  that 
honestly  furthered  the  queen's  commandment."2 

For  these  reasons,  he  sent  his  book  again  to  the 

1  Strype's  Parker,  161,  211,  213,  214.  2  Ibid.,  212,  213. 


236  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

Secretary,  —  accompanied  by  a  letter  to  her  Majesty 
of  the  same  purport,  —  requesting  that  it  might  be 
returned  with  some  authority.1 

This  application  was  effectual.  Her  Majesty  issued 
proclamation  "peremptorily  requiring  uniformity. 
So  that  now  the  wearing  of  the  apparel,  and  obedi 
ence  to  the  usages  of  the  Church,  became  absolutely 
enjoined ;  and  that,  upon  pain  of  deprivation  and 
prohibition  of  preaching.  The  queen  hereby,  by 
her  own  authority,  confirming  and  ratifying  the  Book 
of  Articles ;  or  at  least  so  much  of  it  as  related  to 
apparel,"  for  the  neglect  of  which,  there  being  no 
penalty  in  the  statute,  fine  or  imprisonment  might  be 
inflicted.2  The  Archbishop  also  received  the  queen's 
command,  — "  according  as  his  Grace  had  suggested,  — 
that  they  should  resolutely  proceed  with  the  London 
ministers." 3  The  knout  was  now  in  his  hands. 

On  the  26th  of  March,  1566,4  —  the  second  day 
of  the  year  as  then  reckoned,  and  a  little  more  than 
a  year  after  the  occurrences  in  the  chapel  at  Lambeth 
which  have  been  narrated, —  "all  manner  of  parsons, 
vicars,  and  curates,  serving  within  the  city  of  Lon 
don,"  made  their  appearance,  except  nine  or  ten, 
66  according  to  command,"  before  the  commissioners 
at  Lambeth.  "  After  serious  discourse  and  exhorta 
tion,  each  one  was  asked  singly  whether  he  would 
conform,  or  no,  to  the  ecclesiastical  orders  prescribed." 
Sixty-one  promised,  among  whom  were  a  few  who 

1  Strype's  Parker,  212.  Mr.  Neal  uses  this  language  :  "  The 

2  Blackstone,  IV.  123.  queen  would  give  no  authority  to 

3  Strype's  Parker,  214  &is.     Col-     the  Advertisements."    (L  98.) 

Her,  VI.  429.  4  Strype's    Parker,   215,   Appen- 

I    have    been    careful   to    quote     dix,  p.  79  ;    Grindal,  104. 
the  exact  words  of  Strype,  because 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  237 

before  had  been  backward;  thirty-seven  refused.1 
Those  who  denied  were  to  be  suspended  from  their 
public  ministrations  and  sequestered  from  their  liv 
ings,  from  and  after  the  28th,  until  they  should 
comply,  and  to  be  absolutely  deprived  of  all  their 
spiritual  promotions  if  they  continued  contumacious 
three  months.2 

"Methought  they  would  have  been  rough  and 
clamorous,"  said  the  Archbishop  afterwards  to  Secre 
tary  Cecil ;  "  albeit  they  did  show  reasonable  quiet 
ness  and  modesty.  Some  of  them,  of  more  zeal  than 
learning  or  judgment,  I  trow,  —  mere  ignorant  and 
vain  heads,  sely  recusants,  —  I  would  were  out  of  the 
ministry;  but  others,  of  the  best.  Six  or  seven  of 
them  were  convenient,  sober  men,  pretending  a  con 
science.  I  doubt  not  were  thereby  moved."  3 

"Strain  you  not  the  cord  too  tightly,  good  my 
lord  bishop?"4 

"  Tush  !  they  will  come  to  their  senses  when  want 
pinches;  leastwise,  such  as  by  a  spiced  fancy  hold 
out.  The  wood  is  green  yet,  Sir  Secretary!  Eft- 
soons,  they  will  feel."  5 

In  part,  he  was  right.  Some  of  the  refusers  after 
wards  yielded.6  But  others  held  to  their  "spiced 
fancies,"  and  were  cast  adrift  to  battle  with  poverty 
for  wives  and  children  as  they  could. 

Now  did  the  "  Genevan  Gospellers "  legin  to  feel 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  104  ;   Parker,  former  ;  the  number  of  the  refusers 

215.     Collier,  VI.  429.  which  he  gives,  to  the  latter. 

Mr.  Neal  has  confounded  the  do-        2  Strype's  Parker,  Append,  p.  79. 
ings   of  the   commissioners   on  the        3  Ibid.,  215,  217,  218. 
24th  of  March,  1564-5,  with  their        4  Ibid.,  162. 
doings  on  the  26th  of  March,  1566.         5  Ibid.,  215. 
His  narrative  (I.  98)  belongs  to  the        6  Ibid.,  217. 


238  THE  KNOUT.  [Cn.  IX. 

how  seriously  the  governess  of  the  Church  had  taken 
up  the  libel  which  Doctor  Cox  had  whispered.  So 
bitterly  did  they  feel  it,  that  they  repented  of  having 
returned  from  exile  to  their  native  home  ! l  But 
they  acquiesced  in  God's  appointment,  and  went 
their  ways  to  earn  bread.  Some  became  printers, 
some  went  to  teaching  children,  some  to  trade,  some 
to  husbandry ;  some  became  private  chaplains  to  the 
gentry.  But  u  many  "  of  London  and  of  other  dio 
ceses  who  had  large  families  were  reduced  to  beg 
gary.2 

Among  the  suspended  was  Whitehead;  though, 
like  some  others,  he  "would  not  obey  suspension," 
but  preached  the  Word  wherever  he  had  opportunity. 
He  was  under  the  shadow  of  the  queen's  special 
favor,  who  esteemed  him  as  a  man  of  parts;  but 
more,  as  a  clergyman  unmarried?  Whittingham  was 
another;  though  he  afterwards  subscribed,  and  was 
restored  to  his  deanery  of  Durham.  He  was  always 
a  lukewarm  conformist  at  best,  and  justified  his 
compliance  only  by  Calvin's  judgment,  —  "that  for 
external  matters  one  might  not  neglect  and  leave 
the  ministry."4  "Poor  old  Myles,"  also,  was  com 
pelled  to  relinquish  his  humble  benefice.  But  he 
too  continued  to  preach  where  he  could,  being  con 
nived  at  through  respect  and  policy,  as  were  Fox, 
Sampson,  Lever,  and  a  few  others.5 

The  Puritans  were  in  sore  trouble ;  —  ministers  de- 

1  McCrie,  154.  4  Strype's  Grindal,  98,  99  ;   Par- 

2  Strype's  Parker,  21 5 -21 7;  Grin-    ker,  157. 

dal,  99;  Annals, H.  16 2,  169.  Neal,  5  Strype's  Parker,  223,  243 ;  Grin- 
102.  dal,  116. 

3  Strype's   Grindal,   98;  Parker, 
226.     Brook,  I.  173  bis. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  239 

prived  of  livelihood,  the  laity  of  the  preaching  of 
the  Word.  As  the  commissioners  had  anticipated/ 
many  of  the  churches  were  shut  up  for  want  of 
ministers.  Six  hundred  persons  came  to  a  single 
church  in  London,  on  Palm  Sunday,  to  receive  the 
communion,  but  the  doors  were  shut,  there  being  no 
one  to  officiate.  A  scanty  deputation  of  chaplains 
was  sent  by  the  bishops  to  meet  the  emergency ;  but 
they  were  far  from  being  enough,  and  ministered  in 
the  offensive  garments  and  with  every  offensive  rite. 
The  people  were  greatly  incensed.  Some  church 
wardens  would  not  provide  surplices,  or  wafer  bread, 
for  the  sacrament.  Others  even  opposed  and  dis 
turbed  the  chaplains.  The  Archbishop  had  told  the 
queen,  "that  these  precise  folks  would  offer  their 
goods,  and  their  bodies  to  prison, rather  than  relent"; 
and  her  Highness  had  then  willed  him  to  imprison 
them.  "  All  these  misdemeanors,"  he  now  com 
plained  to  Cecil,  u  created  him  work  and  trouble 
enough.  He  had  been  talking  with  preachers  and 
charging  them  to  silence,  and  sitting  in  commission, 
and  sending  to  prison ;  and  this  he  had  done  all  the 
week,"  —  it  was  early  in  April,  —  "  till  he  was  fully 
tired.  He  marvelled  that  the  burden  of  London  — 
another  man's  charge  —  should  be  laid  on  his  neck, 
as  it  was,  by  the  remissness  of  the  Bishop  of  London. 
But  an  ox,"  he  added,  "  can  draw  no  more  than  he 
can.  I  win  only  shame,  vilely  reported  as  I  am." 
On  the  28th  of  April,  he  had  become  discouraged. 
"  To  have  the  Order  go  forward,  I  utterly  despair  as 
of  myself;  and  therefore  must  sit  still,  as  I  have 
now  done,  always  waiting  the  Queen's  Majesty's 

1  Strype's  Parker,  215. 


240  THE  KNOUT.  [On.  IX. 

toleration,  or  else  further  aid.  Mr.  Secretary,  can  it 
be  thought  that  I  alone,  having  sun  and  moon 
against  me,  can  compass  this  difficulty  ? "  And 
hereupon  he  made  stop  of  his  proceedings.1 

But  what  were  the  Puritan  laity  to  do?  Their 
ministers  were  silenced,  their  churches  closed.  They 
abhorred  the  Popish  garments  even  more  than  did 
the  clergy.2  Some  of  them,  indeed,  wrent  to  the 
churches  which  were  open,  lingering  at  the  doors 
until  the  prayer  before  the  sermon.  Some  went 
nowhere,  believing  it  wrong  to  countenance,  by  their 
presence,  the  use  of  the  offensive  garments  and 
ceremonies.  Others  flocked  after  Father  Coverdale, 
who  now,  for  the  people's  need,  preached  the  more 
constantly,  —  now  here,  now  there,  —  and  without 
the  habits,  being  suffered  to  do  so  unmolested.3 
This  they  continued  to  do  for  seven  or  eight  weeks 
after  their  ministers  were  suspended ;  coming  to  him 
every  Saturday  to  inquire  where  he  should  preach 
the  next  day.  But  this  gave  offence,  it  being  feared 
that  disturbances  would  grow  from  the  crowds  which 
were  drawn  by  a  preacher  so  popular.  He  there 
fore  told  his  friends,  that  he  would  no  longer  give 
them  information  of  his  preaching.  He  was  willing 
to  suffer ;  but  wished  no  quarrel  with  his  superiors. 
Sampson  and  Lever  also,  who  both  "preached  in 
London,  being  dispensed  with,  though  they  wore 
not  the  habits,"  pursued  the  same  prudential  and 
inoffensive  course.  All  these  ministers  found  stead 
fast  protectors  in  Leicester,  Knollys,  and  Cecil,  who 

1  Strype's  Parker,  224 -22  7;  Grin-        3  Strype's  Parker,  241,  242;  Grin- 
dal,  105.     Neal,I.  102.  dal,  116. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  108. 


CH.  IX.]  THE  KNOUT.  241 

were  often  thwarting  the  proceedings  of  the   com 
missioners.1 

The  Puritans  were  baffled,  —  shut  out  by  their 
consciences  from  worship  as  it  was  enjoined,  and  by 
the  law  from  worship  which  they  approved.  Again 
the  question  arose,  yet  more  seriously,  What  were 
they  to  do? 

1  Strype's  Parker,  219,  241,  242;   Grindal,  116.      Neal,  I.  103,  104. 
Brook,!.  25,  127. 


VOL.  i.  31 


CHAPTEE    X. 

THE    EARL  OF  LEICESTER. 

LEICESTER'S  POSITION  AT  COUKT. — His  WIFE  MURDERED. — His  "RELIGIOUS 
STYLE  OR  PHRASE  "  SHOWN  IN  HIS  INTERVIEW  WITH  DR.  CHADERTON.  — 
WHITEHEAD  AND  THE  BISHOP  OF  DURHAM  INTERCEDE  WITH  HIM  FOR  TOL 
ERATION,  AND  AGAINST  COMPULSION.— SEPARATE  WORSHIP  IN  PROSPECT.— 

LEICESTER  AND  LADY  SHEFFIELD. 

1566. 

EGBERT  DUDLEY,  Earl  of  Leicester,  was  without  a 
rival  in  the  kingdom.  Nature  had  endowed  him 
nobly;  —  with  a  figure  tall,  stately,  and  of  perfect 
proportions ;  with  features  of  rare  manly  beauty  ;  a 
forehead  remarkable  for  its  height  and  volume ;  and 
a  countenance  bearing  a  marvellous  expression  of 
sweetness.1  Besides  all  this,  he  had  the  easy,  grace 
ful  manners  and  winning  speech  of  a  finished  cour 
tier.  By  these  advantages  of  person  and  address, 
rather  than  by  his  qualities  of  mind,  he  had  won  the 
admiration  of  the  virgin  queen,  at  his  first  introduc 
tion  to  her  court,  if  not  before.2  She  had  at  once 
avowed  him  as  her  principal  favorite ;  and  in  a  short 
time  had  elevated  him  to  an  earldom.  Nor  did  he 
lack  the  advantages  of  wealth.  The  noble  castle 
and  manor  of  Kenilworth,  and  prodigious  grants  of 
estates  and  monopolies,  were  substantial  tokens  of 
his  mistress's  favor.3  For  a  long  time,  he  controlled, 

1  Naunton,  in  the  Phoenix,  I.  192.         2  Birch,  I.  6.    Lingard,  VIII.  304. 
Echard,  804.  8  Sidney  State  Papers,  I.  44,  45. 


Cii.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  243 

through  his  influence  with  her  Majesty,  all  elections 
to  offices  of  trust  and  to  titles  of  honor.  "  The 
Court  was  at  his  devotion,  and  half  the  Council  at 
his  back."1  Accordingly,  he  was  courted  by  the 
rest  of  the  nobility ;  and  hundreds  sought  to  secure 
his  good-will  and  offices  by  lavish  and  costly  gifts. 
Even  Sir  William  Cecil,  the  queen's  Secretary  of 
State,  her  confidential  counsellor,2  the  main  stay  of 
her  policy,  the  chief  pillar  of  her  throne,  as  well  as 
others  whom  she  most  esteemed  and  trusted,  courted 
his  favor,  almost  in  terms  of  servility,  because  they 
would  secure  or  retain  hers.3 

Thomas  Radcliife,  Earl  of  Sussex,  an  open-hearted, 
high-spirited  soldier,  could  not  brook  the  craft  and 
counsels  of  Leicester;4  and  the  two  maintained  an 
open  quarrel  at  Court,  and  went  about  with  their 
retainers  armed,  —  in  daily  danger  of  bloody  strife, 
—  until  her  Majesty  effected  an  outward  reconcilia 
tion.5  Sussex  appears  to  have  been  the  only  one 
who  dared  to  confront  the  favorite.  The  star  of 
Leicester  held  the  ascendant,  and  he  came  to  be 
called  "  The  Heart  of  the  Court,"  —  so  well  was  it 
known  that  everything  there  was  controlled  by  his 
influence,  and  must  yield  to  his  ambition,  or  policy.6 

Yet  even  "  my  lord  of  Leicester  was  not  absolute 

1  Lloyd,  519-521.     Echard,  804.     siderata  Curiosa,  Vol.  I.  Ch.  XL  p. 

2  A  biographer    of    Cecil,   Lord     22.) 

Burleigh,  who  was  an  intimate  in  3  See  a  remarkable  letter  of  Cecil 

hisfamily,  says :   "  The  Queen  never  to   Dudley,   accompanying   a    new 

resolving  anie  Cause  of  Estate  with-  year's    gift,   in    Peck's   Desiderata 

out  his  Counsell ;  nor  seldome  passed  Curiosa,  Bk.  IV.  p.  50. 

anie   private    Suit,  or  Grant,  from  4  Lodge,  I.  3G8. 

herself,  that  was  not  first  referred  5  Lloyd,  492.  Camden,  79.  Naun- 

to  his   Consideration;  and  had  his  ton  in  the  Phoenix,  I.  194. 

Approbation  before  it  passed."   (De-  6  Lloyd,  519. 


244  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cn.  X. 

in  her  grace  " ;  for  though  in  her  closet  and  at  her 
Council-table  none  more  persuasive  than  he,  "  she 
held  a  dormant  table  in  her  own  princely  breast/'  — 
particularly  when  first  settling  her  government ;  and 
there  were  measures  of  policy  which  she  considered 
essential  to  her  supremacy,  from  which  neither  he, 
nor  the  combined  Council,  could  move  her.1  With 
this  exception,  they  often  swayed,  or  tempered,  or 
at  least  retarded,  her  severer  resolutions  which  they 
liked  not;  and  no  one  more  or  oftener  than  he.  Their 
rule  was  —  her  will ;  and  when  they  could  not  mould, 
they  were  fain  to  obey  it.  Thus,  although  they  some 
times  managed  to  annoy  the  ecclesiastical  commis 
sioners,  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  supposed  that  all  their 
orders  were  approved  by  those  who  signed  them. 

We  say  Leicester  had  wondrous  natural  graces, 
personal  accomplishments,  honors,  influence,  wealth, 
—  it  was  even  wealth  sufficient  for  his  style  of  liv 
ing,  the  magnificence  of  which  was  exceeded  by  few, 
if  any,  in  the  realm.  Yet  in  this  year  1566  no  one 
in  the  splendid  Court  of  Elizabeth  wras  less  to  be 
envied  than  he.  Not  that  he  had  begun  to  totter 
on  his  high  station,  or  feel  the  capriciousness  of 
royal  humor.  The  queen  still  showed  herself  so 
amorous  towards  him,  that  at  home  and  abroad 
strange  things  were  said  of  them,  —  which  we  shall 
notice  on  a  future  page  ;  things  which  she  afterwards 
publicly  declared  to  be  "  devilish  libels,  which  none 
but  a  devil  himself  could  dream  to  be  true  " ;  such 
things,  that  she  might  have  seemed  more  womanly 
had  she  stood  proudly  and  silently  upon  her  woman 
hood,  or  even  upon  the  legal  fiction  that  u  the  Crown 

1  Naunton,  190. 


CH.  X.l 


THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER. 


245 


covers  all  defects,"  than  she  did  to  add  that,  of  her 
"  own  knowledge/'  some  of  them  were  false.1 

The  Lord  Kobert  had  cherished  the  thought  which 
her  Majesty's  deportment  had  suggested.  It  had 
grown  to  a  foul  and  ripe  purpose  against  the  con 
fiding  wife  whom,  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  had 
sworn  to  love  and  cherish.  On  the  8th  of  Septem 
ber,  1560,  she  had  been  murdered  by  his  order.2  At 


1  Desiderata  Curiosa,  Bk.  IV.  p. 
46 ;    Order   of    Council   respecting 
the  book  called  "  Leicester's  Com 
monwealth,"  and   respecting   "  sev 
eral    libels    published    against   the 
queen."     Also  Lingard,  VIII.  306. 

2  Wood'sAtheme,I.476. 
Queen  Elizabeth  was  born  on  the 

7th  of  September,  1533.  (Burnet,!. 
212,  219.  Hume,  II.  352.)  On  the 
same  day  was  born  Robert  Dudley, 
the  third  son  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick, 
—  afterwards  the  Earl  of  North 
umberland.  (Camden,  45.  Sidney 
State  Papers,  I.  44.)  On  the  4th 
of  June,  1550,  —  in  accordance  with 
his  father's  policy  of  early  mar 
riages  for  his  children,  —  he  was  pub 
licly  married  to  Amy,  daughter  of 
Sir  John  Robsart.  (King  Edward's 
Journal,  under  that  date.)  At 
the  time  of  his  marriage,  he  was, 
therefore,  nearly  eighteen  years  of 
age. 

As  stated  in  the  text,  the  murder 
of  his  wife  was  perpetrated  on  the 
night  of  the  8th  of  September,  1560, 
fifteen  years  before  the  queen's  visit 
to  Kenilworth  castle, — which  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  with  very  large  poetic 
license,  makes  first  in  the  order  of 
time,  —  two  years  before  that  cas 
tle  and  manor  were  obtained  by 
Dudley  from  the  queen,  and  less 


than  two  years  after  her  accession 
to  the  throne. 

When  he  had  fully  resolved  upon 
his  crime,  —  to  which  he  had  been 
craftily  stimulated  by  Sir  Richard 
Varney,  —  Dudley  persuaded  his 
wife,  upon  some  plausible  pretexts, 
to  repose  for  a  while  at  the  manor- 
house  of  Cumnor,  in  Berkshire,  then 
occupied  by  his  steward,  Anthony 
Forster.  She  soon  perceived  that 
she  was  in  custody,  and  saw  shad 
owy  and  fitful  signs  of  her  doom. 
A  prisoner  and  in  the  power  of 
ruffians,  it  may  be  imagined  what 
hourly  torments  she  must  have  suf 
fered,  when  the  sound  of  a  footfall, 
or  the  moaning  of  the  wind,  must 
have  roused  her  nervous  apprehen 
sion.  Add  to  this  the  conviction  of 
her  husband's  perfidy  and  hatred,  and 
we  have  the  ingredients  of  her  cup. 

Varney  was  the  superintendent 
and  master-spirit  of  the  plot.  Fol 
lowing  his  lord's  instructions,  he 
sought  to  take  her  off  by  poison ;  a 
mode  of  execution  to  which  Dud 
ley  became  addicted.  (Strype's 
Grindal,  225.  Naunton,  in  the 
Phoenix,  I.  193.)  These  attempts 
were  baffled  by  the  unhappy  lady's 
watchful  apprehensions.  The  vil 
lains  who  had  her  in  charge  then 
sent  for  Dr.  Walter  Bailey,  Profes- 


246 


THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER. 


[Cn.  X. 


the  time  of  his  interview  with  Coverdale  and  White- 
head^  ten  months  before  this  deed,  he  had  begun  the 
foolish  attempt  to  delude  his  conscience  by  a  show 
of  religious  zeal ;  and  after  the  deed,  it  was  only  by 
"  carrying  his  pretences  to  piety  very  high/'  and  by 


sor  of  Physic  at  Oxford,  assuring 
him  that  her  ladyship  was  laboring 
under  some  subtle  malady  which 
produced  a  strange  depression  of 
spirits;  and  requesting  him  to  ad 
vise  her  to  some  potion  which  they 
would  bring  from  Oxford,  —  design 
ing  to  substitute  their  own.  But  the 
physician  became  aware  of  their 
purpose,  —  partly  through  their  mys- 
serious  behavior,  and  partly  perhaps 
through  some  significant  hint  from 
the  patient.  He  refused ;  and  went 
away  with  the  conviction  that  she 
would  soon  fall  a  victim  to  her  keep 
ers.  For  this,  Dudley  vowed  ven 
geance,  which  the  Doctor  narrowly 
escaped.  The  impatient  husband 
next  ordered  her  to  be  despatched 
by  brute  force.  The  more  plausi 
bly  to  accomplish  this,  she  was  as 
signed  to  another  apartment,  in 
which  was  a  private  postern-door, 
close  by  the  bed's  head,  opening 
upon  a  dangerous  staircase.  When 
the  time  arrived  for  the  execution, 
the  servants  of  the  household  were 
ordered  away  to  a  place  three  miles 
distant ;  Varney  retaining  one  of  his 
own  men  and  Forster  to  do  the  work. 
During  the  night,  they  stifled  or 
strangled  their  victim,  broke  her 
neck,  mangled  her  head,  and  flung 
her  down  the  stairway,  that  her 
death  might  seem  to  have  been  ac 
cidental  ;  and  it  was  so  given  out  by 
Varney  and  his  accomplices.  Yet 
the  fall,  to  which  were  attributed 


the  bruising  of  her  head  and  the 
breaking  of  her  neck,  did  not  hurt 
the  hood  found  upon  her  corpse ! 

The  circumstances  of  this  lady's 
death  were  so  strange,  and  so  strong 
ly  indicative  of  malicious  violence, 
that  suspicion,  which  amounted  al 
most  to  conviction,  was  instantly 
aroused  in  the  minds  of  the  country 
people.  So  strong  and  lively  was 
this  impression,  "that  the  chaplain, 
in  her  funeral  sermon  at  Oxford, 
meaning  to  say,  '  this  poor  lady  so 
pitifully  killed/  stumbled  on  the 
unhappy  phrase,  '  so  pitifully  mur 
dered  ' ;  which  made  a  strange  im 
pression  upon  the  hearers."  (Os- 
borne,  87,  note.) 

The  report  of  this  strange  death 
of  the  wife  of  the  man  who,  as  all 
believed,  aspired  to  the  royal  hand, 
and  of  whom  all  thought  the  queen 
enamored,  spread  far  and  near  ;  and 
the  unfortunate  chaplain's  words 
were  adopted  by  all  but  her  Majes 
ty.  They  were  not  only  current  in 
England,  but  maliciously  so  in  the 
French  court.  (Hardwicke  Papers, 
I.  121 ;  Throckmorton  to  Cecil.)  At 
home,  there  was  "  such  a  muttering 
of  the  death,"  that  Thomas  Lever, 
a  Puritan  clergyman  of  sufficient 
character  and  influence  to  have 
dissuaded  the  queen  from  assuming 
the  title  of  Supreme  Head,  (Brook, 
I.  219,)  felt  constrained,  before  the 
month  of  September  had  passed,  to 
write  the  following  letter  :  — 


CH.  X.] 


THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER. 


247 


intoxicating  dalliance  with  his  royal  mistress,  that 
he  could  maintain  the  port  of  an  honest  man,  or 
stifle  the  voice  within.  The  queen  had  received  his 
wooings  well;  and,  almost  immediately  after  the 
murder  of  Amy,  had  stimulated  him  with  the  hope, 


"The  Grace  of  God  be  unto 
your  honors,  with  my  humble  com 
mendations  and  hearty  thanks  in 
Christ ;  for  that  it  hath  pleased  God 
to  place  you  in  authority  with  wis 
dom  and  wills  to  advance  his  glory, 
the  Queen's  Majesty's  godly  honor, 
and  the  peaceable  wealth  of  this 
realm;  and  that  also  I  am  well 
assured  of  your  favorable  minds 
towards  me,  to  take  in  writing  ac 
cording  to  my  meaning,  faithfully, 
reverently,  and  lovingly  :  Therefore 
am  I  moved  and  boldened  by  writ 
ing  to  signify  unto  you,  that  here  in 
these  parts  seemeth  unto  me  to  be 
a  grievous  and  dangerous  suspicion 
and  muttering  of  the  death  of  her 
which  was  the  wife  of  my  Lord 
Robert  Dudley.  And  now  my  de 
sire  and  trust  is,  that  the  rather  by 
your  godly,  discreet'device  and  dili 
gence,  through  the  Queen's  Majes 
ty's  authority,  earnest  searching  and 
trying  out  of  the  truth,  with  due 
punishment  if  any  be  found  guilty 
in  this  matter,  may  be  openly  known. 
For  if  no  search  nor  inquire  be  made 
and  known,  the  displeasure  of  God, 
the  dishonor  of  the  queen,  and  the 
danger  of  the  whole  realm,  is  to  be 
feared;  and  by  due  inquiry,  and 
justice  openly  known,  surely  God 
shall  be  well  pleased,  and  served, 
the  Queen's  Majesty  worthily  com 
mended,  and  her  loving  subjects 
comfortably  quieted.  The  Lord 
God  guide  you  by  his  grace,  in  this 


and  all  other  your  godly  travails,  as 
he  knoweth  to  be  most  expedient  in 
Christ.  Scriblet  at  Coventre,  the 
17th  of  September,  by  your  faith 
fully  in  Christ,  THOMAS  LEVER. 

"  Unto  the  right  honorable  Sir 
Francis  Knoils  and  Sir  William 
Cecil,  Knights,  and  to  either  of 
them  be  these  dd."  (Haynes,  362.) 

One  objection  made  by  Cecil,  six 
years  afterwards,  to  the  marriage 
of  the  queen  and  Leicester  was, 
"that  he  is  infamed  by  the  death 
of  his  wife  "  (Haynes,  444)  ;  and 
a  note  of  his  printed  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  Hatfield  Papers  takes 
notice  of  it  as  affording  just  ground 
for  scandal.  (Hardwicke  Papers,  I. 
122,  note.) 

Aubrey  states,  that  the  Lady  Amy 
"  was  buried  in  great  haste,  before 
an  inquest  was  held."  It  would 
seem,  however,  that  Lever's  letter 
availed  to  an  inquest  after,  —  prob 
ably  a  superficial  one,  conducted 
under  Leicester's  influence.  So  I 
judge,  from  the  following  testimony. 
In  November,  when  Jones  held  his 
private  interview  with  the  queen,  — 
mentioned  in  note  3,  on  the  follow 
ing  page, — she  told  him  that  the 
matter  of  the  Lady  Amy's  death 
"  had  been  tried  in  the  country,  and 
been  found  to  be  contrary  to  that 
which  was  reported";  adding,  "that 
the  Lord  Robert  was  at  court  at 
the  time,  and  none  of  his  at  the 
attempt  [i-ic]  at  his  wife's  house, 


248 


THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER. 


[Cn.  X. 


if  not  with  the  promise,  of  marriage ; l  had  admitted 
him  to  disreputable  intimacy  within  her  own  palace  ;2 
and  afterwards  created  him  Earl  of  Leicester.  This 
last  distinction  was  professedly  conferred  on  purpose 
to  qualify  him  for  marriage  with  Mary  of  Scotland ; 
but,  as  every  one  believed,  for  marriage  with  herself.3 


and  that  it  fell  out  as  should  neither 
touch  his  honesty  nor  her  honor." 
(Hardwicke  Papers,  1.165  ;  Jones  to 
Throckmorton.) 

"  Amy  Robsart,  the  first  wife  of 
Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  was  Jirst 
buried  in  Cumnor  church ;  was  taken 
up  and  reburied  in  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  the  Virgin,  at  Oxford." 
(Wood's  Athenae,  I.  476.)  It  must 
have  been  at  this  second  solemnity 
that  the  chaplain's  blunder  occurred. 

Except  where  I  have  given  other 
references,  the  particulars  of  this 
note  are  gathered  from  the  state 
ment  of  John  Aubrey,  Esq.,  as  given 
in  the  Biographia  Britannica,  Arti 
cle  "  Robert  Dudley,"  note  D.  The 
inquisitive  reader  will  find  the  state 
ments  of  "  Leicester's  Common 
wealth,"  respecting  this  affair,  in 
the  Harleian  Miscellany,  IV.  547- 
554,  and  in  Osborne's  Traditional 
Memoirs,  p.  87. 

1  Lingard,  VIII.   39,   note;  305, 
note. 

2  Ibid.,  425,  note. 

3  On  the  llth  of  January,  1558-9, 
the  queen  made  the  Lord  Robert 
Dudley  her  Master  of  Horse  ;  on 
the  4th  of  June,   1559,  Knight  of 
the  most  noble   Order  of  the  Gar 
ter  ;    on   the    28th    of    September, 
1564,  Baron  of  Denbigh ;  and  on  the 
29th,  Earl   of  Leicester.     (Sidney, 
State  Papers,  I.  44,  45.    Birch,  I.  6. 
Cecil's  Journal,  in  Murdin,  756.) 


Her  deportment  towards  him  was 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  excite  a  gen 
eral  expectation  of  their  marriage. 
On  the  28th  of  October,  1560, 
Throckmorton  wrote  from  Paris  in 
a  fever  of  apprehension,  "  conjur 
ing  "  Cecil,  for  the  honor  of  their 
country,  their  queen,  and  their  re 
ligion,  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  hin 
der  that  marriage."  (Plardwicke 
Papers,  I.  121.)  And  again,  on 
the  17th  of  November:  "They 
take  it  for  truth  and  certain,"  —  at 
the  French  court,  —  "  that  her  Ma 
jesty  will  marry  the  Lord  Robert 
Dudley."  (Ibid.  145,  146.)  So 
seriously  did  he  regard  this  matter, 
and  so  well  founded  did  he  consider 
"  the  brim  bruits  touching  this  mar 
riage,"  that  he  despatched  his  Sec 
retary,  R.  J.  Jones,  from  the  Court 
of  France  to  the  Court  at  Green 
wich,  to  remonstrate  with  her  Ma 
jesty  herself  upon  the  subject.  In 
the  latter  part  of  November,  Jones 
wrote  to  Throckmorton,  that  "  it  was 
the  general  expectation  at  court 
that  my  Lord  Robert  shall  run  away 
with  the  hare  and  have  the  queen  " ; 
that  on  the  27th  he  had  spoken  with 
her  Majesty,  who  received  his  words 
with  maiden  embarrassment,  some 
times  laughing,  sometimes  turning 
herself  aside  and  covering  her  face 
with  her  hands.  She  confessed, 
however,  that  she  knew  of  the  re 
ports,  and  said  nothing  to  imply  that 


CH.  X.] 


THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER. 


249 


She  maintained  the  same  dalliance  with  him  still; 
and  he,  the  same  "  inclination  to  further  God's 
cause." l 


About  the  middle  of  June,  1566,  the  queen,  wearied 
by  military  displays,  bull-baitings,  and  bear-baitings, 


they  were  not  justifiable.  The  Sec 
retary  added,  that  since  this  inter 
view,  her  Majesty  had  evidently 
been  troubled  and  perplexed  upon 
the  subject ;  and  that  there  seemed 
less  prospect  of  the  marriage  taking 
place,  although  her  favors  to  the 
Lord  Robert  had  not  abated.  (Ibid., 
165-168.) 

In  May  next,  Cecil  wrote  to 
Throckmorton,  "  that  he  could  see 
no  certain  disposition  in  her  Ma 
jesty  to  any  marriage,"  (Ibid.,  172,) 
and  again  in  June,  1565,  to  Sir 
Thomas  Smith,  "  that  Leicester  sure 
ly  perceived  his  own  cause  "  —  as 
the  queen's  suitor  —  "  not  sperable  " 
(Ellis,  2d  Series,  II.  297);  and 
yet  again  to  Smith,  in  October, 
1565  :  "  To  tell  you  truly,  I  think 
the  Queen's  Majesty's  favor  to  my 
Lord  of  Leicester  be  not  so  manifest 
as  it  was  to  move  men  to  think  that 
she  will  marry  with  him;  and  yet 
his  Lordship  liath  favor  sufficient,  as 
I  hear  him  say,  to  his  good  satisfac 
tion."  (Wright,  I.  209.)  Notwith 
standing  her  fluctuating  humors,  her 
Majesty's  partiality  to  the  Earl  con 
tinued  to  be  such  and  so  marked, 
that  in  April,  1566,  we  find  Ce 
cil  occupied  in  drawing  up  for 
mal  reasons  against  their  marriage. 
(Haynes,  444.) 

Thus  it  will  be  perceived  that,  at 


the  time  of  the  occurrences  men 
tioned  in  the  text,  Leicester  still 
cherished  hope  of  wedding  his  royal 
mistress.  Lingard  says  that  he  did 
not  abandon  it  until  1568.  (VIII. 
39,  note.) 

Nor  were  these  expectations, 
which  extended  beyond  the  pre 
cincts  of  the  Court,  (Haynes,  364, 
365,)  grounded  only  upon  the  jeal 
ousies  of  courtiers,  or  upon  her 
Majesty's  amorous  familiarities  and 
other  demonstrations.  She  seems  to 
have  had  a  real  womanly  attachment 
for  this  "  terrestrial  Lucifer."  (Os- 
borne,42.)  She  avowed  it.  She  did 
so  in  a  letter  which  Cecil  wrote  under 
her  dictation.  (Haynes,  420.)  She 
did  so  with  her  own  lips  to  Sir  James 
Melvil.  In  each  case,  however,  she 
declared,  that  for  his  admirable  qual 
ities  she  loved  him  "  as  her  brother 
and  best  friend";  yet  to  Melvil 
adding,  that  "she  herself  would 
have  married  him,  had  she  ever 
minded  to  have  taken  a  husband." 
(Melvil's  Memoirs,  93.)  She  even 
affected  a  passionate  attachment  to 
the  Earl's  picture."  (Ibid.,  97.) 
These  declarations  may,  to  be  sure, 
be  charged  to  the  score  of  political 
chicane  ;  and  in  part,  undoubtedly, 
they  should  be.  The  following 
paper,  however,  has  another  com 
plexion.  It  is  an  acknowledgment 


VOL.    I. 


1  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  XXV.  p.  40. 
32 


250 


THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER. 


[Cn.  X 


had  removed  her  court  from  Whitehall  to  Green 
wich  ;  and  after  dinner  on  the  next  day  had  sought 
repose  in  her  private  apartment.  Her  courtiers,  thus 
relieved  from  ceremonious  attendance,  sought  recrea 
tion,  —  each  one  as  suited  his  humor.  The  Earl  of 
Leicester,  always  as  much  distinguished  for  the  splen- 


of  a  splendid  reception  given  to  the 
favorite  by  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury 
and  his  Countess ;  was  "  in  her  owne 
blessyd  hand  writing,"  (Lodge,  II. 
156,  Shrewsbury  to  the  Queen,) 
and  is  dated,  it  should  be  observed, 
in  1577. 

"ELIZABETH:  Our  very  good 
cousin.  Being  given  to  understand 
from  our  cousin  of  Leicester,  how 
honorably  he  was lately  re 
ceived  by  you  our  cousin  and  the 

Countess, we  should  do  him 

great  wrong  (holding  him  in  that 
place  of  favor  we  do)  in  case  we 
should  not  let  you  understand  in 
how  thankful  sort  we  accept  the 
same  at  both  your  hands,  not  as 
done  unto  him,  but  unto  our  own 
self:  reputing  him  as  another  ourself. 
And  therefore  you  may  assure  your 
self,  that  we,  taking  upon  us  the 
debt,  not  as  his,  but  our  own,  will 
take  care  accordingly  to  discharge 
in  such  honorable  sort,  as  so  well 
deserving  creditors  as  ye  are  shall 
never  have  cause  to  think  ye  have 

met  with  an  unthankful  debtor 

Whereof  ye  may  make  full  account 
to  your  comfort  when  time  shall 
serve.  Given  under  our  signet,  at 
our  manor  of  Greenwich,  the  25th 
day  of  June,  1577,  and  in  the  19th 
year  of  our  reign."  (Lodge,  II. 
155.  Strype's  Annals,  IV.  137.) 

It  is  true  that  Elizabeth  offered 
Leicester  in  marriage  to  Mary, 


Queen  of  Scots ;  urged  it ;  pro 
fessed  to  have  raised  him  to  the 
rank  of  an  Earl  for  that  purpose 
(Melvil,  79,  83,  93-95)  ;  and  even 
sent  commissioners  to  Berwick  to 
treat  upon  it.  (Strype's  Annals, 
II.  120.  Ellis,  2d  Series,  II.  294. 
Wright,  I  183.)  All  this  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  she  had  no  such 
affection  for  him  that  she  could  not 
easily  spare  him  for  another.  But 
these  commissioners  made  "  slen 
derer  offers  and  less  effectual  deal 
ing  than  was  expected  " ;  insomuch 
that  the  Scotch  deputation  "  writ  to 
know  whether  the  queen  of  England 
meant  it  truly  or  no."  When  Elizabeth 
"  began  to  suspect  that  the  marriage 
might  take  effect,  her  apprehensions 
occasioned  the  Lord  Darnley's  get 
ting  more  ready  license  to  come  to 
Scotland,  that  he,  being  a  hand 
some,  lusty  youth,  should  rather 
prevail,  being  present,  than  Leices 
ter  who  was  absent " ;  it  being  only 
designed  "with  such  shifts  to  hold 
Queen  Mary  unmarried,"  and  also 
firmly  believed  "that  Lord  Darn- 
ley  durst  not  proceed  in  the  mar 
riage  without  consent  of  the  queen 
of  England."  (Melvil,  104,  105. 
Strype's  Annals,  II.  1 20.) 

Cecil  wrote  to  Smith,  October  4, 
1564  :  "  My  Lord  Robert  is  made 
Earl  of  Leicester,  and  his  prefer 
ment  in  Scotland  is  earnestly  in 
tended."  (Wright,  I.  177.)  But 


CH.  X.] 


THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER. 


251 


dor  of  his  apparel  as  for  the  manly  beauty  of  his 
person,  was  sauntering  on  a  retired  walk  of  the 
royal  garden,  with  but  a  single  companion,  whose 
sober  academical  dress  was  in  striking  contrast  with 
his  own.  This  was  William  Chaderton,  "  a  learned 
and  grave  doctor,  though  for  his  gravity  he  could 
lay  it  aside,  when  it  pleased  him,  even  in  the  pul 
pit."  l  He  was  the  Earl's  "  loving  chaplain " ;  soon 
afterwards,  Lady  Margaret  Professor  of  Divinity  at 
Cambridge,  and  Master  of  Queen's  College ;  and 
finally  Bishop  of  Chester. 

"Nay,   nay,   reverend   friend,"    said    Leicester   in 


on  the  30th  of  December,  he  wrote 
to  him  again  :  "  But  to  say  the  truth 
of  my  knowledge  in  these  fickle 
matters,  I  can  affirm  nothing  that 
I  can  assure  to  continue.  I  see  the 
Queen's  Majesty  very  desirous  to 
have  my  Lord  of  Leicester  placed 
in  this  high  degree  to  be  the  Scot 
tish  queen's  husband,  but  when  it 
cometh  to  the  conditions  which  are 
demanded,  I  see  her  then  remiss 
of  her  earnestness."  (Ibid.,  183.) 
"  Camden  relates,  that  Leicester's 
advancement  to  this  high  dignity  " 
—  of  an  earldom  —  "  was  thought 
by  some  the  better  to  qualify  him 
for  marriage  with  the  Queen  of 
Scots,  though  others  suspected  that 
this  show  of  Queen  Elizabeth  was 
merely  to  try  if  the  motion  would 
be  accepted,  and  then  to  marry  with 
him  herself  with  the  less  dishonor." 
(Sidney  State  Papers,  I.  44.)  Eliza 
beth  was  always  playing  a  diplo 
matic  game  with  Mary  while  the 
latter  was  upon  her  throne.  That 
she  was  doing  so  in  this  case  was 
evident  to  many,  and  supposed  by 


Mary  herself.  (Lingard,  VII.  331 
and  note.) 

That  Elizabeth's  attachment  to 
Leicester  was  real,  and  of  such  a 
nature  that  she  could  not  brook  the 
idea  of  his  being  married  to  any 
other  woman,  is  sufficiently  evident, 
not  indeed  from  the  mere  fact  that 
she  was  in  a  towering  passion  when 
she  afterwards  discovered  his  mar 
riage,  but  from  her  intense  and  un 
conquerable  aversion  to  his  wife ; 
for  which  there  was  no  other  reason 
except  that  she  was  his  wife.  Upon 
this  point,  I  must  refer  the  reader 
to  the  Sidney  Papers,  Vol.  II.  93  ; 
Birch's  Elizabeth,  II.  380 ;  and  Lin 
gard,  VIII.  139  and  note. 

Whether  her  Majesty  ever  had 
any  serious  purpose  to  wed  Leicester, 
is  a  question  which  may  be  kept  in 
mind  when  we  consider  —  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  do  —  the 
probable  reason  of  her  celibacy. 

1  Peck's  Desid.  Cur.,  Preface,  p. 
v.  Harrington's  Brief  View  of  the 
State  of  the  Church,  in  Nugae  Anti- 
quse,  II.  113. 


252  THE  EABL  OF  LEICESTER.  [On.  X. 

reply  to  a  significant  allusion  to  the  queen ;  "  God 
knoweth,  sith  it  hath  pleased  him  to  bereave  me  of 
my  wife,  the  current  of  my  love  tendeth  not  even 
to  a  matchless  queen ;  but  rather  upward.  Never 
theless,  being  bound  in  all  things  by  my  alle 
giance,  I  should  proudly  obey,  if  she  command  me 
to  be  her  husband.  The  Lord  hath  moved  her  to 
honor  me  without  stint,  and  what  she  hath  already 
bestowed  contenteth  me.  I  have  no  ambition  for 
a  royal  couch.  My  heart,  good  Doctor,  is  in  the 
grave,"  —  and  the  noble  widower  sighed. 

"May  God  turn  thine  heart's  sorrow  to  thy  soul's 
good,  my  lord,"  answered  the  honest-minded  Doctor, 
devoutly.  "  But  —  ahem !  My  lord,  I  pretend  to  no 
science  in  such  matters.  I  dare  say  there  be  some 
thing  wondrous  touching  about  women  to  him  who 
hath  a  calling  to  be  touched.  Yet,  my  faith  !  their 
witchery  passeth  my  poor  comprehension.  Might  I 
advise,  my  lord  ?  " 

"It  belongeth  to  thine  office,  kind  sir;  and  is  a 
boon  due  thy  patron." 

"  Then  would  I  counsel  thee  eschew  all  likeness  of 
wooing  the  Queen's  Highness.  For  the  good  of  the 
realm,  I  would  with  all  my  heart  she  were  wedded ; 
that  so  we  might  have  seed  royal,  and  no  more  ado 
about  the  succession.  But  as  thy  well-wisher,  I 
would  not  have  thee  imperilled  by  the  sex ;  and  the 
more  because  of  her  who  hath  gone  to  heaven. 
They  be  a  dangerous  species,  my  lord.  No  good 
ever  came  of  them  yet,  save  now  and  then,  when 
God  by  way  of  miracle  hath  made  one  a  vessel  unto 
honor,  —  of  whom,  I  doubt  not,  was  the  Lady  Amy. 
Like  mother,  like  daughter.  Eve  will  be  Eve,  though 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  253 

Adam  would  say  nay.1  And  then  —  poor  Adam! 
Venture  not,  my  lord,  but  upon  compulsion." 

"  Saith  not  St.  Paul  somewhat  the  like  ?  " 

"  Certes,  my  lord !  and  wisely.  He  saith  :  I  say  to 
the  unmarried  and  widows,  it  is  good  for  them  if 
they  abide  even  as  I.  Let  every  man  abide  in  the 
same  calling  wherewith  he  is  called.  And  more  he 
saith  of  the  same." 

"  Troth  !  it  be  a  good  doctrine,  my  loving  sir.  For 
the  matter  I  must  say,  however,  that  as  it  is  lawful, 
so  it  is  convenient  for  such  as  cannot  otherwise  con 
tain.  But  I,  having  no  such  calling  of  convenience 
or  inclination,  will  e'en  abide  in  my  calling,  saving 
always  that  my  liege  lady  hath,  perchance,  a  calling 
to  call  me  from  my  calling.  With  me,  woman  hath 
no  more  power,  save  to  command  my  knightly  cour 
tesy  and  protection.  Howbeit,  good  sir,  I  think  thee 
somewhat  inclining  to  severity  in  thy  judgment  of  the 
species,  as  thou  callest  them." 

"  Not  a  whit !  not  a  whit !  my  lord.  Every  rare 
one  among  them,  who  is  not  a  mischief-maker  with 
the  men,  is  a  living  miracle,  —  nor  more,  nor  less. 
What  saith  John  Aylmer,  whilom  Archdeacon  of 
Stow  and  tutor  to  Lady  Jane  Grey,2  and  even  by 
our  gracious  queen  —  for  the  book  he  hath  writ 
against  the  Blast  blown  about  the  government  of 
women  —  counted  a  man  of  parts  ?  " 

"  Nay,  Doctor,  I  wist  not." 

"Verily  he  giveth  large  dose  of  flattery3;  but 
withal  to  sugar  his  drugs.  He  saith,  —  for  so  godly 
a  truth  I  remember  well,  — "  Some  women  be  wiser, 

1  Harrison  in   Holingshed,   I.   p.         2  McCrie,  144. 
234.  3  Ibid..  14G. 


254  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER  [Cii.  X. 

better  learned,  discreeter,  constanter,  than  a  number 
of  men ;  but  the  most  part  be  fond,  foolish,  wanton, 
flibbergibs,  tatlers,  trifling,  wavering,  witless,  with 
out  counsel,  feeble,  careless,  rash,  proud,  dainty, 
nice,  tale-bearers,  eaves-droppers,  rumor-raisers,  evil- 
tongued,  worse-minded,  and,  in  every  wise,  doltified 
with  the  dregs  of  the  Devil's  dunghill ! '  There  is  a 
picture  of  woman  for  ye,  my  lord.  Howbeit,  he  doth 
carefully  except,  as  miracles  of  grace,  her  Majesty 
and  ladies  of  rank." l 

"Hoot-toot,  Doctor!  Doth  he  say  that,  and  her 
Majesty  not  mislike  the  ruffian !  But  it  now  inind- 
eth  me  of  a  like  morsel  which  I  have  heard  thyself 
did  utter  in  some  godly  sermon  of  thine.  Prithee, 
what  was  it  ?  " 

"  Troth !  her  Majesty  liketh  mightily  the  man  who 
coucheth  a  lance  at  John  Knox.  She  will  make  him 
a  bishop  yet.  But  nay,  my  lord,  the  sermon  thou 
wottest  of —  which  was  preached  years  agone  in  my 
youth  —  can  have  no  compare  with  the  words  of 
Aylmer.  I  did  but  say,  that  the  choice  of  a  wife  is 
full  of  hazard ;  not  unlike  as  if  one,  in  a  barrel  full 
of  serpents,  should  grope  for  one  fish.  If  he  scape 
harm  of  the  snakes  and  light  on  the  fish,  he  may  be 
thought  fortunate.  Yet  let  him  not  boast,  for  per 
haps  it  may  prove  but  an  eel." 2 

Leicester  stopped  short  in  his  walk,  drew  his  ma 
jestic  figure  to  its  full  height,  and  fixed  his  piercing 
dark  eye  upon  Chaderton.  "A  thought,  Doctor!  a 
thought ! " 

"  A  choice  one,  I  doubt  not,  my  lord,  —  an  it  be 
thine  own." 

1  Strypo's  Aylmer,  276. 

8  Nugae  Antiquse,  II.  114.     Desid.  Curiosa,  Preface,  p.  v. 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  255 

"  Mine  own ;  and  choice.     Wilt  treasure  it  ?  " 

"  For  thy  sake,  its  own,  and  mine." 

ee  I  did  say  just  now,  that  as  for  the  matter  of  mar 
riage,  as  it  is  lawful,  so  it  is  convenient  for  such  as 
cannot  contain.  I  now  say  that  the  gift  or  disposi 
tion  of  marriage  thou  canst  best  judge  of  in  thyself, 
it  being  His  ordinance  that  frameth  the  hearts  of  all 
creatures  according  to  his  divine  pleasure ;  to  whose 
providence  we  must  all  submit  ourselves,  and  in 
whose  fear  I  doubt  not  but  you  have  only  disposed 
your  mind  in  the  matter  of  celibacy.  Yet  mark  my 
words,  most  loving  chaplain  mine,  most  reverend 
woman-hater!  Thou  wilt  be  after  the  fish,  anon, 
thyself." 

"  Pshaw ! "  retorted  the  chaplain,  with  an  air  of 
scorn  which  few  men  would  have  dared  to  assume 
with  Leicester. 

"  Dost  pshaw  me,  man !  Yet  didst  just  promise  to 
treasure  my  thought  for  its  choiceness,  for  my  sake, 
and  —  ha !  ha !  —  for  thine  own !  Keep  thy  promise, 
good  sir.  An  Doctor  Chaderton  do  fall  in  love,  his 
friend  and  master,  Robert  Leicester,  will  pity  him; 
and,  out  of  his  own  experience,  will  help  him. 
When  thou  art  right  eager  for  the  fish,  wilt  tell 
me?" 

The  Doctor  was  nettled  by  what  he  considered  a 
doubt  of  his  manliness  and  stability;  but,  with  as 
good  a  grace  as  possible,  he  gave  the  pledge.  Just 
three  years  afterwards,  he  redeemed  it!  Whereupon 
the  Earl  replied,  "  lovingly "  and  graciously  approv 
ing  that  he  should  follow  his  new  "  calling,"  —  which 
he  did.1 

1  Desid.  Curiosa,  I.  Bk.  III.  No.  III.  p.  3. 


256  THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER.  [Cii.  X. 

To  soothe  his  chaplain's  irritation,  Leicester  now 
spake  of  affairs  at  Cambridge,  where  the  Doctor 
resided,  and  was  gratified  to  learn  that  the  ill-will 
which  had  existed  there  toward  the  ecclesiastical 
habits  was  by  no  means  abated ;  for  though  him 
self  a  Churchman,  it  was  his  private  policy,  not  only 
to  mar  the  revenues  of  the  bishops,  but  to  perplex 
their  discipline  and  stint  their  power  by  encouraging 
and  protecting  the  Puritans.  Thus,  as  his  religious 
zeal  always  served  his  temporal  interests,  and  often 
thwarted  the  prelates,  they  never  considered  him  a 
friend  and  well-wisher  of  the  Establishment.1 

Turning  an  angle  in  their  path  around  an  orna 
mental  copse,  the  Earl  and  his  chaplain  suddenly 
confronted  Pilkington,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  Mr. 
Whitehead ;  each  of  whom  saluted  his  Lordship  with 
an  eagerness  which  betrayed  that  they  were  in  search 
of  him.  Whereupon  Dr.  Chaderton  took  his  leave. 

"  Fare  thee  well,  good  friend,"  said  the  Earl,  cor 
dially,  and  with  that  winning  complaisance  which,  at 
this  stage  of  his  history,  usually  marked  his  demeanor 
towards  his  dependents  and  inferiors,  —  "fare  thee 
well  at  Cambridge.  You  have  matters  there  worthy 
of  well  handling ;  and  such  handling  on  your  part 
I  doubt  not  of,  through  God's  assistance,  by  your 
study,  diligence,  and  deeds.  The  holiness  ascribed 
to  Antichrist,  instead  of  Christ,  I  trust  shall  appear ; 
and  the  pride  of  man's  own  virtue  and  deserts  shall 
be  truly  known,  where  his  trust  ought  to  be,  and 
whence  all  his  goodness  proceedeth.  God  send  you 
his  Spirit  to  wade  in  your  affairs  so  zealously  and 
truly  as  may  set  forth  his  glory,  and  make  manifest 

1  Biographia  Britannica. 


CH.  X.]  THE  EAEL  OF  LEICESTER.  257 

the  errors  remaining  among  men.  I  bid  you  farewell, 
with  my  hearty  commendation." 

"  Odds  my  life,  reverend  sirs ! "  turning  to-  the 
others  with  a  playful  affectation  of  alarm,  "  methinks 
I  might  not  forfeit  my  golden  spurs  for  cowardice, 
but  only  be  chargeable  with  a  wholesome  discreet 
ness,  an  I  took  to  my  heels.  What  is  Robert  Leices 
ter,  without  esquire,  page,  or  harness,  vis  a  vis  with 
two  sons  of  Anak,  knights  of  the  most  holy  order  of 
Geneva,  —  and  they  looking  wondrously  inclined  to 
run  a  tilt  upon  my  poor  body !  Luckily  I  do  be 
think  me  the  weapons  of  your  warfare  be  not  carnal. 
Moreover,  ye  cannot  have  heart  of  evil  toward  a 
friend." 

"  My  lord,"  answered  Pilkington,  gravely,  "  we  are 
suitors." 

ee  Ma  foi !  plaintiff  and  defendant  ?  Leicester  is  no 
judge." 

"Nay,  good  my  lord,  we  be   agreed." 

"  Now  Heaven  forefend  !  It  must  be  some  mat 
ter  ecclesiastic.  Yet  here  is  my  Lord  of  Durham, 

1  In  the  text,  the  obscurity  of  never  yet  saw  a  style  or  phrase 

Leicester's  language  is  his  own,  not  more  seemingly  religious,  and  fuller 

mine.  In  quoting  his  words  in  this  of  the  strains  of  devotion  ;  and  were 

dialogue,  I  confess  to  an  anachronism  they  not  sincere,  I  doubt  much  of 

of  three  years,  as  may  be  seen  by  his  well-being :  and  I  may  fear  he 

Vol.  I.  Bk.  III.  p.  3  of  Peck's  De-  was  too  well  seen  in  the  aphorisms 

siderata  Curiosa.  I  have  allowed  of  Nicholas  the  Florentine  and  in  the 

myself  in  this,  for  the  convenience  reaches  of  Ccesar  Borgia"  The 

of  here  bringing  to  view  the  arrant  same  affectation  of  godliness  appears 

sanctimoniousness  of  the  man  whom  remarkably  even  in  his  last  will  and 

Sir  Robert  Naunton,  "  well  acquaint-  testament,  in  which  he  cloaks  with 

ed  with  the  affairs  of  that  day,"  religious  phrase  the  most  infamous 

compares  to  the  most  infamous  char-  libel  which  ever  a  father  indited 

acters  in  history.  I  quote  from  his  against  a  lawfully  begotten  son.  See 

Fragmenta  Regalia.  Speaking  par-  Biographia  Britannica,  and  Lodge, 

ticularly  of  Leicester's  writings  :  "  I  I.  308. 

VOL.  i.  33 


258  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTEE.  [Cn.  X. 

who  mindeth  Mother  Church,  and  the  very  reverend 
Master  Whitehead,  who  mindeth  her  not,  but  saith, 
when  she  telleth  him  to  cap  it  and  cope  it  or  stop 
preaching,  that  he  will  neither  cap,  cope,  nor  stop. 
Gramercy  !  how  can  two  such  be  agreed  ? " 

"  We  pray  you,  my  lord,"  said  Whitehead,  evading 
Leicester's  vein  of  humor,  "  intercede  with  her  Ma 
jesty  to  bear  more  gently  in  the  matters  of  which 
you  speak.  This  is  our  suit ;  and  though  we  differ 
in  our  behavior  to  the  outer  laws  of  the  Church,  we 
agree  in  our  mislike  of  them." 

"  Herein,  of  a  surety,  appeareth  a  greater  marvel 
still,"  replied  the  Earl,  persisting  in  his  bantering, 
"that  Master  Whitehead,  whom  her  Majesty  so  es- 
teemeth  that  she  would  have  made  him  Primate  of 
her  Church, —  Master  Whitehead  whom  she  honor- 
eth  in  presence  of  her  lords  and  ladies  with  <I 
like  thee,  Whitehead,  and  I  like  thee  the  better 
because  thou  livest  unmarried,'  —  this  same  pet  of 
her  Highness  cometh  to  simple  Kobert  Leicester,  say 
ing,  '  I  pray  thee,  pray  for  me ! '  Troth  !  this  be  a 
marvellous  marvel,  when  thou  wouldest  be  thine 
own  best  pleader!" 

"  Not  so,  my  lord.  My  heart  misgiveth  me  lest  I 
did  spoil  my  small  favor  with  her  Highness  by  a 
bluntness  of  answer  misbecoming  a  Court." 

« Ha !  ha !  Thou  didst  tell  her,  '  Go,  get  mar- 
ried '  ?  Thou  mightest  as  well  have  said,  '  Go, 
hang.' " 

"  Nay,  nay,  my  lord ;  do  not  magnify  my  rudeness. 
I  did  but  say,  '  In  troth,  madam,  I  like  thee  worse, 
for  the  same  cause.'1  My  lord,  I  pray  thee  hear  us." 

1  Fuller's  Worthies,  II.  19. 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  259 

"  So  be  it.  A  truce  with  nonsense.  What  would 
ye?  It  is  in  vain,  —  so  I  did  tell  thee  and  Father 
Coverdale  before,  Master  Whitehead,  —  it  is  in  vain 
to  parley  with  her  Majesty  of  that  she  hath  once 
ordained.  Semper  eadem !  Semper  eadem !  I  told  ye 
then,  —  I  tell  thee  now.  Moreover,  to  retract  from 
her  ordaining  were  to  detract  from  her  supremacy. 
See  ye  not,  good  sirs,  an  her  Majesty  undoeth,  to 
please  the  whims  of  her  subjects,  what  she  hath 
done  in  matters  of  which,  as  she  saith,  '  God  hath 
made  her  the  overseer,'  she  doth,  by  so  undoing, 
admit  the  subject  to  meddle  with,  and  share,  her 
supremacy  ?  The  surplice,  she  reasoneth,  is  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  and  the  Act  of  Supremacy  woven,  — 
the  one  the  warp,  the  other  the  woof.  Touching  it, 
therefore,  is  touching  the  apple  of  her  eye." 

K  My  lord,"  said  Pilkington,  "  an  it  be  so,  and  the 
matter  be  hopeless,  God  help  us !  But,  by  your 
leave,  I  will  e'en  hazard  the  reminding  you  of  some 
what  I  writ  your  lordship  when  the  pressing  of 
uniformity  was  first  on  foot.  Of  your  lordship's 
inclination  to  further  God's  cause,  —  as  I  said  to  you 
then,  so  say  I  now,  —  no  man  doubts.  But  consider, 
I  pray,  that  as  we  have  a  diverse  show  of  apparel 
that  the  clergy  be  known  from  the  common  people, 
which  be  meet  enough  I  trow,  so  it  is  necessary  in 
apparel  that  a  Protestant  be  known  from  a  Papist. 
Nay,  so  much  the  more.  If  we  forsake  Popery  as 
wicked,  how  shall  we  say  its  apparel  becometh  the 
professors  of  true  holiness?  How  Popish  apparel 
should  set  forward  the  Gospel  of  Christ  Jesus;  or 
how  Christian  peace  is  to  be  kept  when  so  many  for 
so  small  things  shall  be  thrust  from  their  ministry 


260  THE  EAKL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cn.  X. 

and  livings;  or  how  the  Church  shall  be  built  up, 
when,  by  insisting  upon  these  small  things,  so  many 
worthy  be  cast  from  their  ministry,  and  so  many 
places  be  left  destitute  of  preachers,  —  it  passeth  my 
simple  wit  to  conceive.  Besides,  while  Christian 
liberty,  by  enforcement  of  the  same  things,  is  turned 
into  necessity,  it  is  evil,  and  no  longer  liberty."1 

"  Hold !  my  lord  bishop,"  exclaimed  Leicester,  im 
petuously.  "  This  new  doctrine,  that  as  governess 
of  the  Church  she  may  not  prescribe  regulations 
upon  compulsion,  hath  come  to  her  Majesty's  ear; 
and  she  sweareth  with  her  big  oath,  'By  God's 
wounds !  it  is  seditious  ! '  Pity  it  hath  ever  been 
said."2 

"  To  her  Majesty  I  can  make  no  gainsaying ; 
though  in  sadness  I  submit.  Yet  bear  with  me,  my 
lord,  a  little  further  in  that  for  which  for  the  most 
part  we  have  sought  your  lordship.  This  compulsion 
—  this  cutting  compulsion  —  is  like  an  iron  entering 
the  soul.  It  is  an  omen  of  yet  greater  troubles  ;  for 
the  question  is  now  tossed  about,  whether  they 
whom  her  Majesty  seeketh  to  compel  against  their 
conscience,  shall  not  leave  the  communion  of  the 
Church,  like  as  we,  the  communion  of  Home,  and 
make  separate  Church  of  themselves." 

«  Zounds  !  Et  tu,  Brute  !  Et  tu ! "  said  Leicester, 
addressing  each  in  turn. 

"Nay,  not  me,  my  lord,"  said  the  Bishop,  with 
strong  emotion. 

"Nor  me,  my  lord,"  said  Whitehead.  "We  do 
spurn  all  thought  of  such  separation,  by  ourselves  or 

1  Strype's  Parker,  Append.  XXV.        2  Hallam,  109,  110. 
passim. 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  261 

by  others.  Therefore  we  have  come  to  advise  your 
lordship  betimes  what  evil  impendeth;  that  so  you 
may  contrive  plea  or  persuasion  with  her  Majesty, 
that  she  haply  soften  her  severity,  and  relent  of  her 
compulsion.  My  lord,  we  have  prayed  our  prayer. 
God  give  you  wisdom  and  success  with  her  Majesty, 
that  our  Church  be  not  broken  in  pieces." 

A  few  moments  Leicester  was  occupied  in  grave 
and  silent  thought,  and  then  inquired  earnestly, 
"This  jack-o'-the-lantern  notion  of  imperium  in  im- 
perio  —  for  so  will  her  Majesty  construe  ecclesia  in  ec- 
clesid, — prithee,  Master  Whitehead,  how  far  spread- 
eth  it?" 

"  I  wot  not,  good  my  lord.  But  some  are  made  to 
waver  from  the  scheme  of  separating,  by  letters  writ 
of  late  by  divines  in  Germany,  about  the  lawfulness 
of  wearing  the  habits." 

"Then  the  fancy  may  die  away." 

"  I  fear  not,"  said  Pilkington,  "  while  her  Majesty 
compelleth  conscience." 

66 1  have  myself  heard  her  Majesty  declare,"  replied 
Leicester  with  some  spirit,  "  that  she  will  make  no 
inquisition  of  men's  consciences  in  matters  of  relig 
ion."  * 

"Whether  she  will  make  inquisition  of  conscience, 
or  no,  God  only  knoweth,  my  lord.  Albeit,  she 
maketh  compulsion  thereof." 

"  Witness,  the  man  at  thine  elbow,  my  Lord  Bish 
op," —  and  the  Earl  pointed  at  Whitehead  with  an 
exultant  smile,  — "  and  the  grievous  compulsion  of 
his  conscience." 

"Nay,    my   lord,"    replied    Whitehead,    "witness 

1  Strype's  Annals,  II.  371. 


262  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cn.  X. 

rather  the  hundreds  through  the  realm  who  are 
silenced  and  beggared.  I  go  unmolested,  only  of 
grace." 

"And  celibacy/'  added  Leicester,  with  a  laugh. 
Then,  changing  his  tone  and  look  to  seriousness, 
"Hark  ye,  good  sirs!  Her  Majesty  is  somewhat 
testy  betimes.  She  is  already  provoked  by  the 
books  which  you  schismatics  have  — " 

"Hold,  my  lord!"  "My  lord,  I  protest!"  cried 
the  divines  in  a  breath. 

Leicester  smiled,  and  coolly  asked,  "  What  now  ?  " 

"  We  be  no  schismatics,  my  lord,"  replied  Pilking- 
ton.  "  Call  us  Puritans  if  you  will,  though  it  be  '  a 
dark  phrase.' l  In  privy  judgment,  I  am  one  of  those 
so  called,  and  without  shame  therefor ;  although, 
like  my  Lord  of  London,  I  conform.  Master  White- 
head  too  is  a  Puritan ;  but  being  full-blown,  unlike 
his  lordship  and  myself,  he  doth  not  conform.  But 
all  of  us  abhor2  separation  from  the  Church." 

"  Prithee  !  what  are  these  men  who  talk  of  setting 
up  a  new  worship  ?  " 

"Puritans,  my  lord;  but  something  more.  Call 
them  Separatists." 

"  A  fig  for  names !  Some  bodies  have  been  scat 
tering  up  and  down,  to  the  hands  of  all  the  people, 
certain  books  against  the  habits.3  These  books  be 
an  offence  to  her  Majesty;  and  even  now  she  calleth 
for  a  decree  from  the  Star-Chamber  to  end  them ; 
and,  however  the  Council  may  mislike  it  for  its  sever 
ity,  her  Majesty  must  be  obeyed.  If  now  she  be 

1  Sampson  to    Grindal;    Strype's        3  Strype's  Parker,  220;  Annals, 
Parker,  Append,  p.  1 7  9.  II.  1 6  2  -  1 70. 

2  Hanbury,  I.  45,  62-  70  passim. 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  263 

further  provoked  by  so  unheard  of  a  thing  as  the 
setting  up  of  a  Church  other  than  that  which  ac- 
knowledgeth  her  as  its  Supreme  Mistress,  I  wot  not 
what  terrible  thing  she  may  do.  I  counsel,  therefore, 
that  ye  warn  these  would-be  runaways.  The  queen 
will  count  them  traitors,  mayhap." 

"We  will,  my  lord,"  answered  the  bishop;  "yet 
methinks  the  properer  and  simpler  remedy  lieth  with 
her  Majesty." 

"  I  repeat  it,  my  Lord  Bishop,"  said  Leicester,  u  it 
is  written  as  with  a  pen  of  iron,  or  the  point  of  a 
diamond,  —  Semper  eadem !  temper  eadem  !  The  only 
remedy  is  conformity.  It  grieveth  me;  but  I  will 
not  hide  the  truth." 

"  My  lord !  the  non-conforming  Puritans  are  in 
great  straits.  It  is  not  disloyalty,  nor  lawlessness, 
nor  mulishness,  nor  recklessness,  nor  superstitious  pre- 
ciseness,  nor  over-much  righteousness;  it  is  only 
distress  for  lack  of  a  worship  without  the  gear  of 
Antichrist,  which  makes  them  talk  of  separation. 
Printing  giveth  vent  to  their  distress.  Stop  it,  and  I 
fear  the  vessel  will  burst.  That  will  be  schism." 

u  Ah !  say  you  so  ?  " 

"  Marry !  in  all  sorrow  and  honesty." 

Leicester  mused  a  moment,  and  then  said,  "  Rever 
end  masters !  I  heartily  thank  you  for  your  adver 
tisements.  I  shall  weigh  them  as  their  gravity  doth 
merit.  The  conscience  of  the  godly  hath  my  re 
spect  ;  their  grief,  my  sympathy ;  their  weakness,  my 
prayers ;  their  need,  —  when  service  be  possible,  — 
my  service.  Count  ye  upon  this,  good  sirs.  In 
return,  commend  me  to  God,  that  he  would  count 
me  worthy  to  serve  him  in  serving  his.  The  time 


264  THE  EAEL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cn.  X. 

requireth  his  helping  grace,  as  well  as  our  faithful 
ness.  My  duties  press  me  now,  and  I  must  break 
from  you.  God  speed  us  by  his  Spirit !  adieu ! " 

The  two  divines  looked  upon  his  stately  form  with 
admiration  until  concealed  by  the  intricacies  of  the 
garden,  when  Pilkington  broke  silence.  "  Of  a  truth, 
the  Lord  hath  exalted  that  man  for  some  good  pur 
pose  !  What  godly  thoughtfulness  for  religion ! " 
Master  Whitehead  making  no  reply,  he  added,  "  Say 
you  not  so,  good  sir  ?  " 

"  Which  ?  "  asked  the  other,  moodily. 

"  Both." 

"  Exalted  for  some  good  purpose,  I  doubt  not." 

"  And  —  "  said  the  Bishop,  making  a  bridge  to  the 
other  part  of  the  answer. 

«H— m— m!  The  Lord  seeth  the  heart.  What 
think  you,  my  lord,  of  the  rumors  of —  of —  ?  You 
understand." 

"  Scandal !  base  !  baseless ! " 

The  Earl  moved  rapidly  away,  turning  down  a 
path  which  soon  terminated  upon  a  retired  and 
wooded  portion  of  the  grounds.  At  this  point,  he 
encountered  a  lounging  yeoman  of  the  guard,  who 
sprang  to  his  feet  as  if  detected  in  a  fault,  and  ren 
dered  the  customary  mute  salutation  of  reverence. 

"  Ha,  Anthony  !  true  as  steel !  " 

The  man  bowed,  with  a  look  upon  his  face  which 
said  that  he  knew  it,  and  was  proud  of  it. 

"  Have  they  passed  ?  "  continued  Leicester,  stop 
ping  short. 

"  Half  an  hour  agone,  my  lord ;  and  more." 

"It  is  well.  Let  no  one  else.  Mark  me,  —  no 
one  " ;  —  and  he  strode  on. 


CH.  X.1  THE  EAKL  OF  LEICESTER.  265 

A  little  way  within  upon  the  unbroken  green 
sward,  the  copse  grew  more  dense,  and  the  fragrance 
of  forest-flowers  filled  the  air.  The  Earl  soon  came 
to  a  deeper  shade,  fronting  a  cliff  of  about  a  rood's 
height.  Its  face  was  spotted  with  moss ;  the  wild 
honeysuckle  clung  in  its  seams ;  and  over  its  brow 
fell  a  rill  of  pure  water,  dancing  its  way,  to  its  own 
soft  music,  down  to  the  turf  below.  As  Leicester 
turned  the  flank  of  the  rock  there  stood  before  him, 
in  a  quiet  nook,  a  beautiful  rustic  bower,  —  known  as 
the  u  Close  Arbor,"  —  densely  covered  with  vines, 
among  which  were  the  eglantine  and  woodbine  in 
profusion.  He  removed  —  of  necessity  —  his  plumed 
cap,  and  stood  within  the  threshold,  his  dark,  wavy 
hair  clustering  over  his  classic  brow  and  flushed 
cheeks.  Two  gentlemen  of  the  Court  stood  at  the 
other  extremity,  —  Sir  John  Hubbard  and  George 
Digby,  —  whose  profound  courtesies  Leicester  ac 
knowledged  by  a  slight  inclination,  while  he  glanced 
around  with  a  nervous  look  of  inquiry  and  sur 
prise. 

"Eh,  sirs!  —  alone?"  with  a  curt  intonation  and 
a  slight  frown. 

He  was  answered  by  a  sob  from  the  shaded  recess 
by  his  side,  where  crouched  a  woman,  who  rose  as  he 
turned  his  head  toward  her,  took  a  single  step,  and 
paused.  She  was  rather  tall  for  her  sex,  of  a  full, 
round,  graceful  figure,  young,  her  features  of  great 
beauty,  and  with  a  soft  blue  eye,  not  expressive  of 
strong  purpose  and  character,  but  of  timidity  and 
languid  tenderness  to  a  rare  degree.  Her  disordered 
hair,  her  pallid  face,  her  lips  compressed,  yet  quiver 
ing  as  if  to  suppress  emotion,  seemed  in  painful 

VOL.   I.  34 


266  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cir.  X. 

mockery  of  her  splendid  Court  costume.  Her  form 
drawn  to  its  full  height,  her  attitude  resolute,  her 
look  earnest,  made  her  seem  in  the  slightest  possible 
degree  defiant;  but  as  she  took  another  step  she 
became  in  every  shade  a  woman,  —  a  suffering,  lov 
ing  woman.  Leicester  was  evidently  surprised,  not 
at  her  presence,  but  at  her  appearance. 

"  Lady ! "  said  he,  extending  his  hand. 

K  My  lord ! "  she  murmured ;  but  instead  of  taking 
his,  she  laid  her  own  fair  hands  upon  his  shoulder, 
bowed  her  head  upon  them,  and  burst  into  tears. 

"  Tush !  hush ! "  said  Leicester,  drawing  her  gently 
to  his  breast ;  "  this  is  womanly  weakness.  Prithee ! 


cease." 


After  waiting  until  her  agitation  began  to  abate, 
he  added,  "  An  thou  likest  not  my  presence,  I  will 
leave  thee  to  thine  attendants,"  —  and  he  made  a 
movement  as  if  to  detach  her  from  his  person.  But 
she  clung  to  him ;  and  with  a  strong  effort  at  self-con 
trol  looked  up,  not  at  him,  but  at  them.  They  un 
derstood  her,  and  left  the  arbor,  bowing  in  assent  as 
Leicester  bade  them  remain  within  call. 

"  I  came  for  smiles,  lady,  and  thou  givest  me  tears ; 
for  the  music  of  thy  soft  words,  and  thou  givest  me 
sobs.  I  came  thinking  thou  didst  pine  for  my  love, 
and  thou  behavest  as  might  become  my  obsequies. 
But  Leicester  is  not  dead ;  and  there  be  other  women 
would  be  proud  to  take  thy  place." 

The  Lady  Douglass  Howard  —  Baroness  Dowager 
of  John  Lord  Sheffield  —  pressed  her  hands  convul 
sively  upon  her  bosom,  and  gasped  as  if  her  heart 
had  been  stung.  It  had. 

"  Womanly  weakness ! "  she  whispered,  turning  her 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  267 

eyes,   now    dry    and    burning,   upon    his.     "Other 

women !     0  Dudley,  Dudley ! " 

66  Ma  foi !    Thou  gleanest  up  my  words  like  pearls ! " 
"  Do  not  mock  me,  Dudley !      Thou  hast  wooed 

and  won  and  bought  me.     Do  not  mock  me  !  " 

The  sardonic  sneer  upon   his   face   vanished.     A 

single    convulsion  flitted  in  its  place ;   a  wild  look 

flashed   from  his  eye ;   and  he  muttered,  "  Bought  I 

—  Damnation ! " 

The  Lady  Sheffield  was  frighted  at  his  strange 
look  and  words  ;  but  the  next  moment  he  was  him 
self  again,  and  she  resumed,  "I  am  thine,  Dudley, 
soul  and  body.  Be  mine." 

"  Beshrew  me  !  am  I  not  ?  We  twain  have  been 
one  flesh  these  two  years,  well-nigh.  Art  mad  ?  " 

"  I  think  I  am  sometimes,  my  lord.     But  not  now, 

—  not  now." 

"  Zounds,  woman !  I  did  fancy  this  meeting  was 
for  the  sipping  of  stolen  waters  as  aforetime,"  ex 
claimed  Leicester,  fiercely.  "But  I  find  I  am  be 
fooled  !  served  with  a  torrent  of  tears  and  nonsense." 

"  Own  me,  my  lord  ! "  and  she  sank  upon  her  knees. 
"  Own  me  thy  true  and  lawful  wife.  God  knoweth  it 
be  my  due  ! " 

"  Croaking  the  old  prayer  !  By  the  rood  !  't  is  a 
dull  and  bootless  one." 

"My  son,  —  my  son,  —  our  son,  Dudley!  If  not 
for  my  sake,  for  his  ! "  and  she  stretched  her  clasped 
hands  towards  him  in  an  agony  of  supplication. 

u  By  my  troth,  lady !  thou  art  eloquent.  Albeit, 
a  shade  more  tragic  than  befitteth  the  occasion. 
Thou  lovest  him  ?  " 

"  Good  God  !  what  a  question  ! " 


268  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cu.  X. 

"  Thou  dost,  hey  ?  I  think  I  do  myself.  It  be  a 
right  proper  boy.  Be  at  ease,  lady  ;  he  shall  be 
cared  for." 

"  Own  me  thy  lawful  wife,  and  him  thy  lawful 
son,  —  and  I  die  content." 

"  Don't,  lady !  We  can  have  store  of  love  yet. 
We  're  not  aged.  Touching  thy  prayer,  however,  it 
comporteth  not  with  my  convenience.  My  answer 
in  one  word,  Never  I " 

"  My  lord ! "  and  the  Lady  Douglass  rose  with  an 
eye  flashing  as  Leicester  had  never  seen  it,  and  as 
nothing  but  the  writhings  of  maternal  instinct  could 
have  made  it  flash,  — "  My  lord,  I  kneel  to  thee  no 
more." 

"  A  right  sensible  conclusion." 

"  I  appeal  to  Ceesar !  " 

«  Ha !  " 

"  My  lord !  there  were  witnesses.  It  will  not 
be  alone  that  I  bespeak  her  Majesty.  The  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  and  the  others,  I  will/ora?  to  speak." 

"Ay,  and  damn  thine  own  soul.  Remember  thine 
oath ! " 

The  lady  sank  upon  the  ground,  and  covered  her 
face  in  her  gorgeous  robe. 

"  So  ho  !     Thou  dost  not  relish  perjury  ?  " 

The  poor  mother  moaned  and  shuddered,  as  though 
wrestling  with  the  king  of  terrors. 

"  Come  to  thy  senses,  my  lady-love ;  come  to  thy 
senses.  Sith  thou  canst  not  mend  thy  case,  mar  it 
not.  There  be  pleasure  in  life's  cup  yet." 

The  Lady  Douglass  was  once  more  on  her  feet. 
Her  face  pale  as  marble,  her  eyes  blazing  like  her 
jewels,  her  bosom  heaving  with  frenzied  passion, 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  269 

she  looked  wildly  upward,  and  panted  forth :  "  Be  it 
so !  Perjury  then  !  To  save  my  son  from  the  blot  of 
baseness,  I  damn  mine  oath,  and  damn  my  soul !  " 

Leicester  stood  a  moment  in  amazement.  He  had 
not  dreamed  her  equal  to  a  resolve  so  terrible.  He 
had  not  seen  before  a  mother  at  bay  over  her  first 
born  son.  He  began  to  study  the  scene.  It  was 
exciting,  —  amusing. 

"  What  a  difference  in  souls  ! "  coolly ;  as  if  solilo 
quizing  a  calculation  in  arithmetic.  "  A  man  maketh 
a  bad  bargain,  if  he  loseth  his  and  gaineth  the  whole 
world ;  whereas  a  woman  maketh  a  good  one,  if  she 
loseth  hers  and  gaineth  —  a  baby !  " 

<(  Spare  thy  sneers,  my  lord,  and  save  thy  blas 
phemy.  They  neither  harm  nor  turn  me." 

«  Lady  !  dost  think  thy  Dudley  hard  of  heart  ?  " 

Her  lip  curled  in  scorn. 

"  Marry,  sweet  one  !  thou  art  in  error.  As  I  love 
thee  too  well  willingly  to  suffer  in  thine  esteem,  I 
must  justify  myself,  and  tell  thee  the  truth.  Ke- 
member,  thou  dost  force  me  to  it.  I  said  that 
the  granting  of  thy  prayer  doth  not  suit  my  con 
venience.  I  add,  it  suiteth  not  mine  ambition.  I 
use  no  guise.  I  refuse,  not  that  I  love  the  Lady 
Douglass  less,  but  Elizabeth  of  England  more.  Dost 
apprehend  ?  For  her,  I  hold  thee  to  thine  oath  to 
hide  our  marriage ;  and  her  /  will  ived" 

"  A  wife  already  be  lawful  impediment." 

fe  Of  a  verity,  thou  art  right.  I  see  I  must  tell 
thee  more  ;  for  thou  art  stupid.  By  Jesu !  sith  thou 
dost  provoke  me  out  of  all  bound  of  reason,  take 
thy  comfort  of  what  will  make  thine  ear  tingle  and 
thy  tongue  dumb.  Dost  know  Signor  Julio  ?  " 


270  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cn.  X. 

*  Thy  physician,  —  the  Italian  ?  " 

"  My  physician,  —  the  Italian.  Lady,  he  is  a  cun 
ning  compounder  of  subtle  medicaments  and  per 
fumes  ;  and  is  my  vassal." 

"  Now,  by  the  mother  of  God ! "  exclaimed  the 
Lady  Douglass,  "  dost  say  they  be  true  which  I  have 
scorned  for  libels,  —  that  he  is  thy  foul  fiend ! " 

"Nay,  start  not,  lady.  He  is  very  obedient,  and 
doth  his  work  within  twelve  hours  of  my  behest, 
when  need  be.  But  he  doth  it  gently,  —  gently.  Be 
fore  thou  canst  have  audience  of  her  Majesty,  good 
Anthony  who  keepeth  guard  yonder  might  have  a 
word  with  Doctor  Julio ;  and  it  might  be  thou  wouldst 
put  on  a  dainty  glove,  or  smell  a  rose,  or  taste  a 
comfit,  and  wake  up  on  the  morn  in  Paradise  ; 
which  I  commend  to  thy  pondering  in  lieu  of  damn 
ing  thine  oath  and  thy  soul." 

"An  I  ~be  a  silly  woman,  my  noble  lord,  not  so 
silly  as  to  weigh  a  threat  like  that.  Thou  dost  over 
shoot  thy  mark,  good  my  lord  !  Satan  could  not  do 
such  a  thing ! " 

"  Fool ! "  and  the  courtly  Earl  grasped  her  fair 
arm  that  she  would  have  screamed,  but  for  the  ter 
rible  eye  which  bent  upon  her  like  a  spell.  "  Fool ! 
thou  shatt  believe !  Hear  me.  Did  I  not  steal  thy 
poor,  young,  silly  heart  when  thou  wast  wedded?" 

"  God  forgive  me  !     I  confess  it." 

"And  did  not  my  passion  urge  me  further?" 

"To  my  shame?     Troth." 

"  And  didst  not  repel  me,  —  which  scarce  another 
woman  in  the  realm  can  do?"1 

"By  God's  grace,  I  did." 

1  Lingard,  VEI.  305. 


CH.  X.]  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  271 

"And  there  was  no  bar  save  thy  bond  to  Shef 
field?" 

"None." 

"And  the  fond  fool  had  an  extreme  rheum  in 
the  head?" 

The  terrified  lady  had  caught  a  glimmer  of  the 
truth,  and  with  an  effort,  in  a  husky  whisper,  an 
swered,  "Yes." 

"  And  died  —  on  a  sudden  ?  " 

Her  eyes  glared  upon  him,  and  she  mechanicaUy 
nodded. 

"And  thou  wert  a  widow?" 

A  dumb  assent. 

"  Woman !  unbeliever !  fool !  With  the  Devil's 
help  and  Julio's,  John  Lord  Sheffield  had  —  a  Lei 
cester  cold!" 

The  shock  of  such  a  revelation  was  too  much  for 
a  frame  already  faltering  under  intense  excitement, 
and  nature  took  refuge  in  a  swoon.  The  pirate  of 
female  charms,  with  a  smile  upon  his  lip,  stood 
studying  the  magic  power  of  his  brutality,  and 
admiring  the  effect  of  placid  repose  upon  a  face 
and  form  so  beautiful.  At  length,  taking  from  the 
folds  of  his  doublet  a  small  coral  whistle  tipped  with 
gold,  he  sounded  a  shrill  call,  which  was  answered 
by  the  return  of  the  two  gentlemen  from  without. 

"  The  noble  lady,"  said  the  Earl,  with  perfect  cool 
ness,  "  hath  upon  her  the  weakness  of  her  sex.  Give 
her  your  dutiful  attendance." 

The  two  gentlemen  sprang  to  her  relief;  but  it 
was  long  before  she  came  to  herself.  Leicester  stood 
patiently  at  the  entrance  of  the  bower,  now  hum 
ming  a  lively  air,  now  watching  the  birds  brooding 


272  THE  EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  [Cn.  X. 

or  feeding  their  young,  until  he  perceived  that  she 
had  revived  sufficiently  to  comprehend  conversation. 
He  then  approached  her  gently,  and  with  a  softened 
aspect.  A  trace  of  her  terror  still  lingered  upon  her 
countenance.  Leicester  perceived  it,  as  she  raised 
her  head  from  the  shoulder  of  Sir  John  Hubbard, 
and,  gracefully  dropping  upon  his  knee  by  her 
side,  he  took  her  hand  and  said,  in  a  low,  firm  voice : 
ff  Lady !  the  disclosure  of  our  marriage  may  not 
be.  Sir  John,  Master  Digby,  and  all  your  servants, 
and  yourself,  are  sworn  to  secrecy.  The  man  or 
the  woman  who  dareth  to  devise  contrariously  shall 
make  atonement,  —  first  to  me,  and  aftenvards  to 
God";  —  an  order  of  words  and  an  emphasis  which, 
to  her  ear,  had  a  clear  and  terrible  meaning.  "An 
thou  dost  find  pleasure  in  my  company,  or  count 
my  love  worth  the  keeping,  vex  me  no  more  with 
thine  importunity.  Let  muteness  herein  be  thy  pol 
icy.  So  shall  Leicester  continue  thine  husband ;  will 
bestow  upon  thee  for  thy  greater  comfort  a  yearly 
purse  of  seven  hundred  pounds ;  and  care  for  our 
son  as  becometh  the  princely  fortune  of  his  father. 
But,  an  thou  dost  provoke  my  forbearance,  I  come 
near  thee  no  more,  and  bar  thee  utterly  from  my 
bounty.  To  the  one  alternative,  I  give  gage  of 
my  knightly  word,  as  well  as  to  the  other ;  where 
of  these  gentlemen  be  witnesses.  I  counsel  thee, 
keep  my  favor ;  beware  mine  affronting.  Nay,  lady, 
answer  not  from  hasty  impulse.  Ponder  my  words 
when  thou  art  better  conditioned.  The  question  is 
simple,"  —  and  he  rose  with  a  voice  and  look  expres 
sive  of  the  sternest  determination,  —  "  Dudley's  love, 
or  Leicester's  hate.  —  Sirs!  I  intrust  your  lady  to 
your  sufficient  care." 


CH.  X.] 


THE  EARL   OF  LEICESTER. 


273 


So  saying,  he  returned  to  the  gallantries  and  fes 
tivities  of  the  palace.1 

"  Of  Vour  lordship's  inclination  to  further  God's  cause 
no  man  doubts? 


1  The  substance  of  this  remark 
able  interview,  and  the  various  facts 
therein  recited,  may  be  found  in  the 
Biographia  Britannica  sub  nom.  ; 
partly  in  the  text,  but  mostly  in 
Note  E. 

In  1573  the  love  of  this  lady  for 
Leicester  appears  to  have  been  un 
abated  ;  for  on  the  llth  of  May  of 
that  year,  Sir  Gilbert  Talbot,  writ 
ing  to  his  father,  the  Earl  of  Shrews 
bury,  says  :  "  There  are  two  sisters 
in  court  very  far  in  love  with  him," 
—  Leicester, —  "  as  they  have  been 
long ;  viz.  my  Lady  Sheffield  and 
Frances  Howard.  They  belike,  striv 
ing  who  shall  love  him  better,  are 
at  great  wars  together."  (Lodge, 
II.  100.  Strype's  Annals,  III.  457. 
Life  of  Hatton,  22.)  Leicester  had 
also  a  daughter  by  her.  To  the 
son,  he  left  most  of  his  fortune  by 
will. 

Fuller  says  of  her:  "Whether 
his  mistress  or  wife,  God  knoweth, 
many  men  being  inclinable  chari 
tably  to  believe  the  latter."  (Wor 
thies,  II.  212.)  "  After  the  death 
of  her  first  husband,  the  Lady  Shef 
field  was  privately  married  to  Lei 
cester,  by  whom  she  had  the  famous 
Sir  Robert  Dudley."  (Hardwicke 
Papers,  I.  196.)  "In  the  reign  of 
King  James,"  (Fuller,  Ib.,  p.  213,) 
this  son  "  instituted  a  suit  in  the 
Star-Chamber  to  establish  the  va 
lidity  of  his  mother's  marriage  with 
the  Earl ;  and  the  extraordinary 

VOL.  i.  35 


manner  in  which  the  proceedings 
were  stopped  is  fully  set  forth  in 
Dugdale's  Baronage."  (Hardwicke 
Papers,  Ibid.  See  also  Lodge, 
I.  309.)  The  son  introduced  the 
mother  as  a  witness,  who  testified 
on  oath,  that  Leicester  at  last  at 
tempted  to  execute  his  threat  of 
making  way  with  her  by  poison  ; 
that  potions  were  administered  to 
her  which  so  far  operated  as  to 
cause  the  loss  of  her  hair  and  nails ; 
and  that,  knowing  no  other  way 
to  shelter  herself  from  his  murder 
ous  devices,  she  was  constrained  to 
marry  Sir  Edward  Stafford.  (Biog. 
Brit.,  Note  E.) 

"  After  the  production  of  all  this 
evidence,  the  heirs  of  Leicester  ex 
erted  all  their  influence  to  stop  pro 
ceedings,  and  Sir  Robert  Dudley 
died  without  being  able  to  bring  the 
matter  to  a  legal  decision.  In  the 
next  reign,"  —  Charles  I.,  —  "  the 
evidence  formerly  given  was  re 
viewed,  and  the  title  of  Duchess," 
—  Countess  ?  —  "  Dudley  conferred 
on  the  widow  of  Sir  Robert,  the 
patent  setting  forth  that  the  mar 
riage  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  with 
Lady  Sheffield  had  been  satisfactorily 
proved." —  Aikin's  Court  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  269  (Philad.  edit.  1823). 

Almost  all  the  reliable  testimony 
concerning  this  case  seems  to  be 
derived  from  Dugdale's  Baronage, 
a  work  not  to  be  found,  I  believe,  in 
this  country. 


CHAPTEE    XL 

THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566. 

THE  QUEEN  AT  GREENWICH.  —  BIRTH  OF  JAMES  OF  SCOTLAND.  — How  RE 
GARDED  IN  ENGLAND.  —  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  SUCCESSION  PROPOSED  BY 
THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS  IN  1562-3.  —  THE  LORDS  OF  COUNCIL  NOW  URGE 
IT  UPON  THE  QUEEN.  —  HER  ANSWER.  —  THE  SUBJECT  AGITATED  IN  THE 
HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  WHO  RESOLVE  TO  PRESS  IT  UPON  THE  QUEEN.  —  HER 
INDIGNATION.  —  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS  ADDRESS  HER. — 

SHE  ANGRILY  RESENTS  THEIR  INTERFERENCE.  —  TlIE  LORD-KEEPER  ADDRESS 
ES  HER  IN  BEHALF  OF  BOTH  HOUSES.  —  SHE  SENDS  ANSWER  TO  THE  COM 
MONS,  THAT  THE  TlME  WILL  NOT  SUFFER  TO  TREAT  OF  THE  SUCCESSION. 

THE  COMMONS  RESUME  THE  SUBJECT.  —  THE  QUEEN  FORBIDS  THE  DISCUS 
SION. —  THE  COMMONS  RESENT  THE  INHIBITION,  AND  "TWIT  THE  AUTHOR 
ITY  OF  THE  QUEEN."  —  A  SECOND  INHIBITION.  —  THE  COMMONS  PERSIST. — 
THE  QUEEN  RETRACTS.  —  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT,  SHE  REBUKES 
AND  THREATENS.  —  PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED, 

A  FEW  days  after  the  occurrences  mentioned  in 
the  last  chapter,  her  Majesty  gave  a  splendid  enter 
tainment  at  court.  It  was  on  the  23d  of  the  month. 
In  the  evening,  she  herself  engaged  with  even  un 
usual  zest  in  the  amusements  of  the  occasion ;  and 
all  the  gentlemen  and  ladies  around  her,  taking  their 
cue  from  the  royal  humor,  were  abandoning  them 
selves  to  gallantry  and  courtly  merry-making.  The 
queen,  "in  great  mirth,"  was  giving  vent  to  her 
spirits  in  a  vigorous  dance,  —  an  accomplishment  in 
which  she  prided  herself,  —  when  she  perceived  Sir 
William  Cecil  standing  apart  and  looking  intently 
towards  her.  She  was  surprised,  for  she  knew  that 
business  of  state  required  his  presence,  for  that  day, 
in  London.  Her  pleasure  was  checked,  for  she 


CH.  XL]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566.  275 

perceived  by  his  attitude  and  countenance,  that  he 
was  not  then  gazing  with  admiration,  but  under  the 
burden  of  some  special  errand.  Immediately  quit 
ting  her  favorite  pastime,  she  advanced  to  meet  him, 
with  that  stately  carriage  for  which  she  was  peerless 
even  in  her  moments  of  towering  passion.  A  look 
only,  from  Cecil,  declared  to  her  eye,  that  his  busi 
ness  was  private.  A  slight  gesture  on  her  part,  and 
her  train  of  attendants  receded  a  little  way  from  her 
person,  leaving  the  queen  and  the  secretary  by  them 
selves.  Cecil,  however,  would  not  trust  his  voice  in 
the  neighborhood  of  itching  ears ;  but  addressed  her 
Majesty  in  a  whisper.  Her  countenance  fell,  and  she 
stood  for  a  moment  like  a  statue ;  and  then  retired 
with  her  secretary  to  a  recess,  where  they  were  con 
cealed  from  curious  eyes.  The  merriment  of  the 
brilliant  assembly  was  dashed ;  whisperings  and  anx 
ious  surmisings  took  place  of  laughter  and  song. 

"When  Cecil,  after  a  little  time,  had  taken  his 
leave,  and  some  of  her  ladies  had  found  her  still 
sitting  there,  with  her  head  drooped  upon  her  arm, 
she  "  burst  out  to  them,"  with  mournful  vehemence, 
"The  Queen  of  Scots  is  the  mother  of  a  fair  son, 
while  I  —  I  —  am  but  a  barren  stock  ! "  She  then 
retired  gloomily  to  her  privy  chamber,  and  the  gay- 
eties  of  the  night  were  ended. 

Instantly  upon  the  birth  of  Mary's  son,  four  days 
before,1  Sir  James  Melvil  had  taken  horse  and  ridden 
post  to  London  with  the  news.  Contrary  to  his 
request,  Cecil  had  chosen  himself  to  communicate 
the  intelligence  to  his  sovereign,  before  Melvil  could 
have  access  to  her  Court.  The  next  morning,  Sir 

1  Cecil's  Journal ;  Murdin,  761. 


276  THE  PAELIAMENT  OF  1566.  [Cn.  XI. 

James  proceeded  to  Greenwich  to  execute  his  mis 
sion,  where  her  Majesty  welcomed  him  in  her  best 
apparel,  radiant  with  smiles,  and  profuse  in  her  con 
gratulations.  She  declared  to  him  that  she  had  lain 
fifteen  days  under  a  heavy  sickness;  but  that  the 
joyful  news  of  her  cousin's  delivery  of  a  fair  son 
had  wrought  upon  her  like  a  charm,  and  effected  her 
complete  recovery.  This  was  needless  lying  cer 
tainly;  and  to  Sir  James  Melvil  it  must  have  been 
ridiculous;  for,  on  his  way  to  Greenwich,  he  had 
been  told  of  her  Majesty's  health,  hilarity,  and  dis 
composure  the  evening  before.1 

Mary's  maternity  produced  a  great  sensation  in 
England.  The  Papists  were  full  of  joy,  for  the  pros 
pect  of  a  Catholic  succession  to  the  English  throne 
was  now  increased  by  another  life.  The  Protestants, 
on  the  other  hand,  seeing  Elizabeth  still  "without 
all  likelihood  of  marriage,"  were  now  the  more  in 
clined  to  overlook  the  obvious  title  of  the  Queen  of 
Scots  as  next  heir  to  the  throne,  and  were  proposing 
to  themselves,  some  one,  and  some  another  succes 
sor,  from  more  remote  branches  of  the  royal  family ; 
dreading  the  accession  of  another  Catholic,  even 
more  than  the  contingencies  and  horrors  of  a  civil 
war.2  Under  these  circumstances,  "  men  of  the  most 
opposite  parties  began  to  cry  aloud  for  some  settle 
ment  of  the  succession." 3 

Nor  was  this  all.  Besides  the  political  conspiracies 
abroad,  —  which  will  be  noticed  in  another  chapter,  — 
other  matters,  doubtless  unknown  to  the  people  at 
large,  stimulated  the  queen's  confidential  ministers 

1  Melvil,  138.  3  Hume,  IH.  24. 

2  Camden,83.    D'Ewes,  104, 130. 


CH.  XI.] 


THE  PARLIAMENT  OF   1566. 


277 


to  join  heartily  with  the  popular  voice.  These  matr 
ters  were  probably  communicated,  in  some  measure 
at  least,  to  other  most  prominent  peers  of  the  realm. 
A  foreign  Popish  plot  against  the  queen's  life  had 
for  more  than  two  years  been  known  to  some  of  the 
Privy  Council.1  Indeed,  to  go  farther  back,  just  after 
the  Viscount  Montague — a  true  loyalist  and  a  man  of 
honor  —  had  set  himself,  with  the  vigor  and  courage 
of  an  honest  Catholic,  against  the  queen's  ecclesi 
astical  supremacy,  by  his  speech  in  the  House  of 
Lords,2  and  while  yet  the  breath  of  his  words  had 
hardly  cooled,  he  had  communicated  to  her,  in  a 
private  letter,  his  knowledge  of  a  like  design  for 
her  assassination.3 


1  See  infra,  Chap.  XIII. 

2  See  ante,  Chap.  VI 

3  The  Viscount  Montague  to  the 
queen,  concerning  a  conversation  be 
tween  Gaspar  Pregnor,  the  Emper 
or's  ambassador,  and  himself.     No 
date.      Marginal   date  in   Haynes, 
1559. 

" '  And  therefore,'  quoth 

he  [Gaspar],  'I  will  impart  unto 
you  that  which,  before  God !  I 

know    to    be    true The 

queen  and  all  England  is  in  no  small 
peril,  yea,  the  very  person  of  the 
queen ;  and  this  I  do  say  to  you  as 
knowing  it,  and  would  say  more  if 

I  might,  which  by I  may  not.' 

'At  least  I  require  of  you,' 

said  I,  'for  the  love  and  care  which 
you  show  to  bear  to  the  queen  and 

realm,  to  signify which  way 

this  peril  doth  grow  to  her  Majesty's 
realm,  and  chiefly  her  person.'  He 
said  he  would.  '  And  for  the  first 
time  there  hath,'  quoth  he,  '  been 
talks  and  devices  in  no  small  places, 


for  the  dividing  of  Scotland  and 
England;  and  this,'  quoth  he,  'is 
assuredly  true.  For  the  person  of 
the  Queen's  Majesty,  I  know  it  hath 
been  offered,  and  is,  that  she  shall 
be  slain ;  which  offer  of  both,  how 
they  have  been  taken,  I  know  not, 
but  sure  I  am  they  have  been  made. 

These   words,'  quoth  he, 

'  spoken but   only   (God   I 

take  to  record)  knowing  the  same 
and  wishing  well  to  the  realm.'  He 
refused  to  tell  which  way  the  enemy 
cometh ;  saying  only,  '  The  queen 
will  easily  judge,  by  this  much,  of 
the  rest ;  but  because  you  ask  me, 
this  much  I  say  of  myself,  —  it  be- 
hooveth  the  queen  in  any  wise  to 
please  this  king  of  Spain,  and  lose 
him  by  no  means  ;  then  to  be  tem 
perate  in  those  matters  which  may 
offend  this  king  of  Spain  and  oth 
er  ;  lastly,  to  have  Jidele  satellitium 
for  the  guard  of  your  person.' "  — 
Haynes,  324. 


278  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566.  [Cn.  XI. 

Historians  too  often  view  these  murderous  plots 
through  the  refracting  medium  of  religious  partiali 
ties  ;  but  whether  they  were  verities  or  baseless 
rumors,  affects  not  the  point  before  us.  By  Eliza 
beth  and  her  ministers,  who  had  better  means  of 
judging  than  we,  they  were  taken  for  realities.  Of 
this  we  have  sufficient  evidence  in  a  paper  drawn  by 
Cecil,  —  apparently  official,  and  in  the  year  1560, — 
containing  minute  precautionary  measures  to  be 
adopted  by  her  Majesty  to  guard  her  person  from 
poison ;  showing  clearly  his  own  fears,  and  those  of 
the  Privy  Council,  of  foul  designs  against  her  life.1 

These  plots,  so  far  at  least  as  they  were  known 
and  believed,  of  course  intensified  the  anxiety  that 


1  Cautions  for  the  queen's  apparel  Majesty  to  take  the  advice  of  your 

and  diet :  —  physician  for  the  receiving  weekly 

"  We  think  it  very  convenient  twice,  some  preservative  contra  pes- 
that  your  Majesty's  apparel,  and  tern  et  vencna,  as  there  be  many  good 
specially  all  manner  of  things  that  things  arid  salutaria. 
shall  touch  any  part  of  your  Majes-  "  Item.  It  may  please  your  Majes 
ty's  body  bare,  be  circumspectly  ty  to  give  order  who  shall  take  the 
looked  unto ;  and  that  no  person  be  charge  of  the  back  doors  to  your 
permitted  to  come  near  it,  but  such  chamberer's  chambers,  where  laun- 
as  have  the  trust  and  charge  thereof,  dresses,  tailors,  Avardrobers,  and  such, 

"  Item.  That  no  manner  of  per-  used  to  come ;  and  that  the  same 
fume,  either  in  apparel  or  sleeves,  doors  may  be  duly  attended  upon, 
gloves,  or  such  like,  or  otherwise,  as  becometh,  and  not  to  stand  open 
that  shall  be  appointed  for  your  but  upon  necessity. 
Majesty's  savor,  be  presented  by  any  "  Item.  That  the  privy  chamber 
stranger,  or  other  persons,  but  that  may  be  better  ordered  with  an  at- 
the  same  be  corrected  by  some  other  tendance  of  an  usher  and  the  gen- 
fume,  tlemen  and  grooms." 

"  Item.  That  no  foreign  meat  or  From  a  minute  of  Cecil,  A.  D. 
dishes,  being  dressed  out  of  your  1560.  (Haynes,  368.)  This  paper 
Majesty's  Court,  be  brought  to  your  may  have  been  suggested  by  the  let- 
food,  without  assured  knowledge  ter  quoted  in  the  preceding  note ; 
from  whom  the  same  cometh ;  and  and  probably  was,  if  that  letter  was 
that  no  use  be  had  hereof.  dated  between  January  and  March 

"  Item.   That  it  may  please  your  25,  1559-60,  as  it  may  have  been. 


CH.  XI.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  279 

the  succession  of  the  crown  should  be  solemnly 
settled  by  her  Majesty;  for,  while  undetermined, 
every  hazard  of  her  life  increased  the  danger  of 
civil  convulsions. 

But  before  narrating  the  memorable  proceedings  of 
the  next  Parliament,  it  is  necessary  to  look  backward 
for  a  moment.  The  Commons  having  faithfully  and 
respectfully  prompted  the  queen,  in  1559,  upon  the 
subject  of  marriage,  had  taken  the  same  step,  during 
the  session  of  1562-3,  in  regard  to  the  succession.  A 
little  while  before,  the  queen  had  been  perilously 
sick,1  which  had  alarmed  the  people,  and  moved  the 
Commons  to  their  proceeding.  She  had  received 
them  in  a  body ;  and  with  fair  courtesy  had  replied 
to  the  address  of  their  Speaker,  Williams,  that  "  the 
matter  was  so  grave,  as  needed  great  and  grave 
advice,  for  which  she  must  now  defer  her  answer 
to  further  time ; 2  but  so  great  was  her  own  concern 
in  this  matter,  that  when  of  late  death  had  possessed 
every  joint  of  her,  she  had  desired  life  for  the  realm's 
sake  only,  not  for  her  own,  —  knowing  that,  had  she 
then  ceased  to  reign  at  Whitehall,  she  should  have 
reigned  in  a  better  place." 3  After  having  waited  a 
fortnight,  some  of  the  Commons,  growing  impatient, 
had  prevailed  for  a  message  of  reminder  to  be  sent 
to  her  Majesty  in  the  name  of  the  House.4  Four 
days  afterwards,  she  had  sent  her  "  further  answer " 
to  this  effect :  "  That  she  doubted  not  but  the  grave 
heads  of  the  House  did  right  well  consider  that  she 
forgot  not  their  suit  for  the  succession,  nor  could  for 
get  it,  the  matter  being  so  weighty;  but  that  she 

1  D'Ewes,  81.    Nugae  Antiquae,  1. 81.       3  Nugaj  Antiquae,  I.  80  -  83. 

2  D'Ewes,  81.  4  D'Ewes,  84. 


280  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [CH.  XI. 

willed  the  young  heads  to  take  example  of  the  an 
cients."  ]  This  cool  —  if  not  contemptuous  —  evasion 
of  a  matter  so  momentous,  was  not  now  forgotten ; 
and  served,  no  doubt,  to  fan  the  popular  excitement. 

Such  were  the  circumstances  which  pressed  upon 
the  minds  of  the  Commons  and  of  the  Lords  respect 
ing  the  determination  of  the  succession,  when  the 
Parliament  were  again  assembled,  on  the  thirtieth 
day  of  September. 

How  much  of  the  Puritan  element  there  was  in 
the  Commons  House  of  1566  it  is  impossible  to 
determine.  But  that  there  was  considerable  appears 
from  the  fact,  that  no  less  than  "  six  bills  touching 
reformation  of  matters  of  religion  and  Church  gov 
ernment  "  were  introduced,  though  cut  off  from  final 
proceeding  by  the  dissolution  of  Parliament.2 

The  word  Liberty,  however,  had  already  been  spo 
ken,  and  in  its  true  and  noble  import.  Timorously, 
feebly,  and  only  religiously,  it  is  true ;  yet  the  idea 
had  vibrated  in  the  mind  of  the  Christian  man,  and 
made  him  point  the  finger  doubtingly  at  the  prerog 
ative  of  the  prince.  In  this  sense,  it  had  first  been 
spoken  by  the  PURITANS, —  not  from  beneath  the 

1  D'Ewes,  85.  himself  ?  —  under  the  doings  of  Par- 
With  some  misgivings,  I  have  liament  in  1562-3.  Besides,  the 
omitted  to  notice  in  the  text  the  queen's  answer,  recorded  under  date 
queen's  final  postponement  of  this  of  April  10th,  1563,  (D'Ewes,  75,) 
subject,  by  her  address  through  the  is  nothing  but  a  meagre  abstract  of 
Lord  Keeper  at  the  close  of  the  that  given  to  the  Lords  in  1566.  So 
Parliament  of  1562-3.  I  have  done  far  as  it  goes,  even  the  words  are 
so,  relying  upon  the  statement  of  almost  identical.  Hume  did  not 
D'Ewes,  (p.  107,)  which  I  confess  I  read  D'Ewes,  on  this  point,  with 
do  not  confidently  understand.  He  sufficient  carefulness.  See  also  Hal- 
seems  to  say  that  the  queen's  answer  lam,  148,  note, 
to  the  Lords  on  this  subject  in  1566  2  D'Ewes,  185. 
has  been  erroneously  placed  —  by 


CH.  XI.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566.  281 

humble  side-gown  and  cornered  cap  only,  but  from 
beneath  the  cope  and  the  mitre.1  But  the  question 
which  the  curate  —  dreaming  little  of  its  greatness  — 
had  started  in  his  vestry  concerning  the  rights  of  the 
Christian,  we  now  hear  in  Parliament  applied  to  the 
rights  of  the  citizen ;  naturally  enough  too,  for  relig 
ious  and  political  affairs  had  been  intertwined  for  so 
many  generations,  religious  despotism  had  so  long 
been  identified  with  political,  that  it  was  impossible 
to  touch  the  one  without  mooting  the  other.  Thus 
it  was  but  ar  step  from  the  right  of  choosing  a  gar 
ment  in  the  Church,  to  that  of  choosing  a  theme  in 
Parliament. 

"Whether,  then,  the  Puritan  element  was  more,  or 
whether  it  was  less,  in  this  House  of  Commons  of 
1566,  and  although  in  the  great  movement  there  all 
parties  shared  alike,  the  spirit  which  sustained  debate, 
and  the  principles  by  which  it  was  defended,  betray 
the  genius,  if  not  the  dominant  influence,  of  the 
Puritan.  He  was  there. 

After  the  meeting  of  the  Parliament,  the  first 
action  concerning  the  great  topic  of  public  interest 
was  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk.  There  being  no  prin 
ces  of  the  blood,  and  no  other  of  his  title,  he  was 
both  a  peerless  Peer,  and  next  in  rank  to  the  queen. 
His  character  and  influence  corresponded  with  his 
position;  and  he  possessed  the  good  graces  of  his 
sovereign.2  With  these  advantages,  he  was  the  most 
proper  person  to  move  her  in  a  matter  to  which  she 
had  showed  a  strong  repugnance ;  but  the  reopening 

1  Ante,  p.  179,  note  2.     Strype's        2  Hume,  III.  59. 
Parker,  Append.  XXV. 
VOL.  i.  36 


282  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566.  [Cn.  XL 

of  which  was  made  imperative  by  the  condition  of 
the  state  and  the  fever  of  the  public  mind.  Accord 
ingly,  he  was  deputed  by  the  nobility  to  do  so,  and  in 
their  name.  On  the  12th  of  October,  therefore,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Lords  of  the  Council  in  the  queen's 
palace  of  Whitehall,  he  addressed  himself  to  her 
Majesty  with  the  plainness  becoming  a  case  so  seri 
ous,  softened  by  the  courtly  urbanity  for  which  he 
was  distinguished.  Briefly  noticing  the  dangers  of  a 
disputed  succession,  and  the  reasonable  wishes  of  her 
people,  he  urged  her,  by  the  love  she  bore  them,  to 
keep  them  no  longer  in  suspense  either  in  regard  to 
her  marriage  or  the  succession. 

Hitherto  —  thanks  to  the  deference  which  her  sex 
commanded  —  she  had  been  able  to  waive  themes  so 
disagreeable ;  to  parry  remonstrances  and  exhorta 
tions  without  exciting  murmurings.  But  Norfolk's 
suit  was  for  to-day  ;  and  not  for  fair  words  and  cheer 
ing  hopes,  but  for  the  performance  of  those  which 
she  had  given.  The  matter  was  before  her,  —  face 
to  face.  She  met  it. 

"Do  you  complain  of  me !  You  have  no  occasion. 
You  have  had  none.  I  have  well  governed  in  peace. 
A  late  but  trifling  war  may  have  been  an  occasion  of 
murmuring  among  my  subjects.  But  the  war  hath 
not  originated  in  me ;  in  you,  I  verily  believe,  it 
hath.  Lay  your  hands  on  your  hearts  and  blame 
yourselves.  The  succession!  Not  one  of  ye  shall 
have  the  choice  of  it.  I  reserve  it  to  myself  alone. 
My  sister  was  buried  while  alive.  I  will  not  be.  I 
know  well  how  every  one  hastened  to  me  while  she 
was  still  living.  Why?  Because  —  I  was  the  suc 
cessor.  I  am  not  inclined,  just  now,  to  see  such 


Cii.  XI.J  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566.  283 

travellers.  In  this  matter  I  desire  none  of  your 
advice  in  any  way. 

"  Touching  my  marriage,  you  may  see  well  enough 
that  I  am  not  distant  from  it,  or  from  what  respects 
the  welfare  of  the  kingdom.  Go  each  of  you,  and 
do  your  own  duty." ] 

Thus  unpromisingly  did  the  controversy  open. 
Yet  Norfolk  had  succeeded  where  others  had  failed. 
He  had  extorted  a  direct  answer. 

On  the  2d  of  October,  Mr.  Onslow,  the  Speaker 
elect  of  the  Commons,  had  been  presented  to  the 
queen ;  had  "  disabled  "  himself;  and  "  his  election  had 
been  allowed."  But,  in  making  the  customary  peti 
tions,2  he  had  omitted  those  for  liberty  of  speech  and 
for  freedom  from  arrests ; 3  "  contrary,"  says  D'Ewes, 
66  to  all  former  and  latter  precedents." 4  This  fact  is 
noticeable.  Whether  the  first  was  omitted  for  a  pur 
pose,  and  the  latter,  that  so  the  whole  might  the 
more  plausibly  be  charged  to  forgetfulness ;  or  wheth 
er  both  omissions  were  merely  accidental,  —  is  worth 
keeping  in  mind  as  we  pass  over  the  doings  of  a 
House  in  which  "  so  great  liberty  of  speech  by  divers 
was  never  used  in  any  Parliament  or  session  of  Par 
liament  before  or  since,"5  to  the  time  —  about  1625 6 
—  when  the  compiler  of  the  Journals  wrote. 

On  the  17th  of  October,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  queen's  Privy  Councillors,  enlarging  upon  her 
Majesty's  extraordinary  expenses  in  the  late  war, 
which  had  exhausted  her  treasury,  moved  to  propor 
tion  out  some  supply  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the 

1  D'Israeli,  169.  *  Ibid.,  121. 

2  See  above,  Chap.  VI.  6  Ibid.,  122. 
8  D'Ewes,  98.  8  Ibid.,  527. 


284  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [Cn.  XI. 

state.1  A  member  of  the  House  immediately  replied, 
"  That  he  saw  no  occasion  for  this.  The  war  which 
had  drained  the  treasury  was  the  queen's  war ;  nei 
ther  undertaken  for  defence  of  her  kingdom,  or 
advantage  of  her  subjects.  The  House  would  be 
better  employed  in  inquiring  hoiv  the  money  had  been 
expended,  than  in  devising  for  more  money  to  be 
spent.  They  who  had  had  the  handling  of  it  should 
be  made  to  produce  their  accounts,  to  show  whether 
it  had  been  used  well  or  ill."  2 

Mr.  Basche,  a  purveyor  of  the  marine,  having  next 
iterated  the  statements  of  the  Privy  Councillors  with 
some  emphasis,  — "  Troth  !  "  exclaimed  a  member, 
"  Mr.  Basche  hath  large  reasons  for  what  he  saith. 
They  be  of  like  bigness  as  certain  large  moneys  he 
hath  had  the  fingering  of,  for  the  provisioning  of 
ships.  Marry  !  the  more  he  consumeth,  the  more  be 
his  profits.  To  my  thinking,  there  be  too  many 
purveyors  in  the  realm  already,  whose  noses  are 
grown  so  long  that  they  stretch  from  London  to  the 
West.  Let  us  know  what  they  do  with  their  levies." 3 

Nothing  more  was  debated  or  done  that  day,  but 
to  appoint  a  committee  to  consider  the  matter  first 
proposed.4 

The  next  day,  another  member  concluded  some 
remarks  upon  the  proposed  subsidy  by  saying  that 
it  was  of  far  more  importance  that  the  House  con 
sider  of  a  successor  to  the  crown  and  of  the  queen's 
marriage.5  Whereupon  Mr.  Molineux  moved  to  re 
vive  the  suit  —  which  had  been  first  moved  by  the 

1  D'Ewes,  124.     D'Israeli,  170.  *  D'Ewes,  124. 

2  D'Israeli,  170.  «  D'Israeli,  170. 

3  Ibid. 


CH.  XI.]  THE  PAKLIAMENT   OF  1566.  285 

House  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  queen  —  touching 
the  declaration  of  a  successor,  in  case  the  queen 
should  die  without  issue  of  her  own  body;  and  to 
have  the  business  of  the  succession  proceed  jointly 
with  that  of  a  subsidy*  His  motion  included  no  men 
tion  of  the  queen's  marriage.2  But  Sir  Ealph  Sad 
ler,  one  of  the  Privy  Council,  succeeded  in  staying 
the  House  from  further  proceedings  at  that  time,  by 
affirming  that  he  had  heard  her  Majesty  say,  in 
presence  of  divers  of  the  nobility,  that,  for  the  good 
of  the  realm,  she  was  minded  to  marry;  and  he 
added,  that  it  were  therefore  seemly  that  the  House 
should  wait  awhile  for  the  result  of  this  her  Majesty's 
declaration,  instead  of  intermeddling  with  the  matter 
of  succession.3 

The  next  day  —  Saturday  the  19th  —  Sir  William 
Cecil  and  Sir  Francis  Knollys  declared  to  the  House, 
that,  by  the  special  Providence  of  God,  the  queen  was 
moved  to  marriage,  and,  for  the  good  of  her  subjects, 
to  prosecute  it.  Others  of  the  Privy  Council  said 
the  same  ;  and  urged  the  House,  as  Sir  Ralph  Sadler 
had  done,  to  suspend  further  suit  touching  the  suc 
cession,  in  consideration  of  her  Majesty's  purpose. 
What  these  councillors  said  was  doubtless  by  her 
Majesty's  special  direction;4  for  the  queen  allowed 
her  ministers  to  pledge  her  royal  word  to  the  Com 
mons  for  her  intention  to  marry,  as  often  as  they 
found  it  necessary.5  But  the  House  were  in  110 
humor  for  such  advice.  Several  lawyers  —  the  chief 
of  whom  were  Mounson,  Bell,  and  Kingsmill  —  "  ar- 

1  D'Ewes,  124.  4  Ibid.,  124. 

2  Ibid.,  130.  5  D'Israeli,  169. 

3  Ibid.,  124, 130. 


286  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [Cn.  XI. 

gued  very  boldly  and  judiciously"  for  Molineux's 
motion  ; l  and  the  whole  House,  with  the  exception  of 
a  single  voice,  began  to  clamor  for  the  succession.2 

Hoping  to  divert  their  bent,  or  at  least  to  secure 
precedence  for  the  supply,  Cecil  prayed  them  to 
have  a  little  patience,  and  in  time  they  should  be 
satisfied;  but  that  at  this  moment  other  matters 
pressed,  —  it  was  necessary  to  satisfy  the  queen 
about  a  subsidy.3  Therefore,  as  one  of  the  commit 
tee  appointed  for  the  purpose  on  the  17th,  he  made 
a  declaration  of  the  rates  of  one  subsidy.4 

Upon  this  the  House  became  excited,  shouting,  "No! 
no  !  no  !  "  And,  as  a  reason  for  this  determinedness, 
it  was  added :  "  We  are  expressly  charged  by  our 
constituents,  to  grant  no  moneys  until  the  queen 
answers,  resolvedly,  what  we  now  ask.  Our  towns 
and  counties  are  resolute  on  this  subject.  If  we 
obey  not  their  injunctions,  our  hands  ivitt  ansivcr  for 
it? 5 

The  ministers  were  baffled.  The  House  resolved 
to  renew  the  suit  for  the  declaration  of  a  successor, 
and  to  get  the  queen's  answer.  A  committee  was 
also  appointed,  to  devise  concerted  action  with  the 
lords  of  the  Upper  House.6  Here  the  matter  ended 
for  the  day  in  the  Commons,  but  not  in  the  palace. 

These  proceedings  were  forthwith  reported  to  the 
queen,  by  some  of  "the  principal  lords."  She  re 
ceived  the  report  with  the  ire  of  a  Tudor.  "  The 
Commons  are  rebellious !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  In  the 
life  of  my  father,  they  had  not  dared  such  things. 

1  D'Ewes,  124.  4  D'Ewes,  125. 

2  Disraeli,  170.  6  D'Israeli,  170. 
8  Ibid.                                                       «  D'Ewes,  124. 


CH.  XI.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  287 

It  is  not  for  them  to  impede  my  affairs  by  parley 
ing  about  a  subsidy.  Are  they  my  subjects,  or  are 
they  not  ?  If  they  are,  it  doth  marvellously  misbe 
come  them  to  tell  me  what  I  shall  do  about  a  suc 
cessor.  Know  they  what  they  are  about  ?  What 
they  ask  is  wishing  me  to  dig  my  grave  before  I  am 
dead  ! " l 

On  Tuesday,  the  22d,  the  Lords  sent  to  the  Com 
mons,  requesting  that  the  committee  appointed  on 
the  19th,  to  confer  with  them  upon  the  succession, 
would  postpone  conference  until  Wednesday.2  The 
reason  of  this,  though  not  stated  in  the  Journals,  we 
have  from  a  contemporary  source.  Four  of  the  Lords 
Spiritual,  and  sixteen  of  the  Lords  Temporal,  were 
pre-engaged  to  repair  to  her  Majesty's  presence  on 
the  same  clay.3  Accordingly  they  went  to  her  from 
the  Parliament-House  after  dinner,  and  met  her  in 
her  private  apartment.  Neither  Norfolk,  Leicester, 

1  D'Isracli,  1 70.  the  last  clause  of  her  censure  gives 

The  entire  burden  upon  the  minds  no  clew  to  the  reason  of  her  aversion 

of  the  Commons  and  of  their  con-  to  marriage.     It  could  not  have  had 

stituents  was  The  Succession ;    and  reference  to  anything  but  what  was 

—  so  far  as  appears  from  the  Jour-  agitated  in  the  Commons,  —  the  suc- 

nals  —  this  was  the  only  theme  of  cession ;  and  is  to  be  understood  in 

their   debates  until  the  22d   (com-  the  same  sense  as  her  words  to  the 

pare    D'Ewes,    125  with    130,    also  Lords  of  the  Council  on  the  12th: 

Hume,  III.  24,  25),  when  the  busi-  "  I  will  not  be  buried  while  I  am 

ness  of  the  queen's  marriage  (through  living,  as  my  sister  tvas" 

the  influence  of  her  ministers  there,  The  reader  will  find  the  reason 

by  herself  instructed  to  that  effect —  for  this  note  on  p.  169  of  D'Israeli, 

Hallam,  148)  was  "  colorably  add-  where   he   says  :    "  Urging   her   to 

cd,  that  the  motion  touching   sue-  marriage,  she  said,  was  asking  noth- 

cession  might  be  less  distasteful  to  ing  less  than  wishing  her  to  dig  her 

her  Majesty."     On  the  19th,  when  own  grave,"  &c.     That  she  uttered 

she  censured  their  doings  as  in  the  these  words  on  Saturday  the  19th 

text,  the  Commons  were  not  debat-  appears  from  p.  1 70  of  D'Israeli. 

ing  at  all  the  subject  of  her  marriage;  2  D'Ewes,  125. 

nor  had  they  done  so.      Therefore  3  Ibid.,  101,  125. 


288  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF   1566.  fCii.  XI. 

nor  Pembroke  was  of  this  deputation ; l  for  they 
had  offended  her  Majesty  by  advising  that  Parlia 
ment,  without  her  concurrence,  should  designate 
her  successor  ;  and  had  therefore  been  forbidden 
her  presence.2  As  soon  as  her  attendants  had  re 
tired,  the  venerable  Lord  Treasurer,  the  Marquess  of 
Winchester,  now  ninety-two  years  of  age,3  announced 
the  errand  of  the  Lords. 

"The  Commons,"  he  said,  "had  required  them  to 
unite  in  soliciting  her  Majesty  to  appoint  a  successor; 
the  necessity  of  contingent  dangers  to  the  kingdom 
compelled  the  Lords  to  urge  the  point;  her  royal 
predecessors  had  been  accustomed  to  make  such 
provision  long  beforehand ;  the  Commons  were  so 
resolved  to  settle  this  matter  before  subsidy  or  any 
thing  else,  that  the  time  of  the  Parliament  was 
frittered  away  in  trivial  discussions ;  and,  in  the 
name  of  all  he  supplicated  her  Majesty  to  declare  her 
will  on  this  point,  or  at  once  to  end  the  Parliament." 

"  My  lords,"  said  she,  "  do  what  you  will.  As  for 
myself,  I  shall  do  nothing  but  according  to  my 
pleasure.  All  the  resolutions  which  you  may  make 
can  have  no  force  without  my  consent  and  authority. 
Besides,  what  you  desire  is  an  affair  of  much  too 
great  importance  to  be  declared  to  a  knot  of  hare- 
brains.  I  will  take  counsel  with  men  who  under 
stand  justice  and  the  laws,  as  I  am  deliberating  to 
do.  I  will  choose  half  a  dozen  of  the  most  able  I 

1  D'Ewes,  101.  list  in  D'Ewes.     Cecil,  in  his  Jour- 

2  Cecil's  Journal,  under   date  of    nal,  does  not  mention  Norfolk — only 
Oct.  27,inMurdin,  762.  Camden,83.     Pembroke  and  Leicester  —  as  being 

The   account  given  in   D'Israeli    excluded  from  the  queen's  presence- 
states  that  Norfolk  was  present  and    chamber, 
spoke.     But  his  name  is  not  on  the        8  Holingshed,  IV.  317. 


CH.  XI.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  289 

can  find  in  my  kingdom  for  consultation ;  and,  after 
having  heard  their  advice,  I  will  then  discover  to 
you  my  will."  On  this  she  dismissed  them  in  great 
anger.1 

Without  entering  upon  the  details  of  transactions 
between  the  Lords  and  the  Commons,  it  is  necessary 
only  to  state,  that  neither  House  desisted  from  its 
purpose ;  and  that  a  joint  committee  was  appointed 
to  urge  the  queen  both  to  marriage  and  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  successor.  It  was  agreed  that  this  should 
be  done  chiefly  in  the  name  of  the  Lords,  inasmuch 
as  the  Commons  had  done  the  same  by  themselves 
in  the  fifth  year  of  the  queen.2 

The  sentiments  of  the  two  Houses  were  accord 
ingly  laid  before  her  Majesty  —  at  what  precise 
time  is  uncertain  —  by  the  Lord  Keeper  Bacon. 
Her  answer  was  given  to  a  special  deputation  of 
thirty  of  the  Lords  and  thirty  of  the  Commons,  se 
lected  at  her  command.  They  waited  upon  her  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  5th  of  November,8  at  her  palace 
of  Whitehall.  Among  this  deputation,  we  find  the 
names  of  Norfolk,  Leicester,  and  Pembroke.4  The 
next  day,  her  answer  was  reported  to  the  Commons 
by  Sir  Edward  Rogers  and  Sir  William  Cecil,  to  this 
effect :  "  That  the  Queen's  Majesty's  Highness,  by 
God's  grace,  would  marry,  and  would  have  it  there 
fore  believed ;  and  touching  limitation  for  succession, 
the  perils  were  so  great  to  her  person,  some  of 
which  she  had  felt  in  her  sister's  time,  that  time  will 


1  Disraeli,  170.  *  D'Ewes,  103,  104  bis,  and  127. 

2  D'Ewes,  104,  127.  Camden,  85. 

3  Cecil's  Journal  (Murdin,   762) 
says  the  14th  of  November. 

VOL.  i.  37 


290  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [Cn.  XL 

not  yet  suffer  to  treat  of  it."  The  journalist  adds, 
significantly,  "  Whereupon,  all  the  House  was  silent" 

Two  days  afterwards,  however, — that  is,  on  the  8th 
of  November,  —  the  subject  was  again  opened  by  a 
motion  from  Mr.  Lambert,  which  he  supported  by 
u  a  learned  oration,"  that  the  House  "  do  press  fur 
ther  their  former  suit  touching  the  declaration  of  a 
successor."  Her  Majesty,  hearing  of  this,  and  fear 
ing  a,  fresh  agitation  of  this  subject,  sent  her  com 
mands  the  next  day  to  the  House,  by  Sir  Francis 
Knollys,  "that  they  should  no  further  proceed  in 
their  suit,  but  satisfy  themselves  with  her  promise  of 
marriage ;  and  that  she  did  expressly  inhibit  the  fur 
ther  discussion  of  this  business."  This  was  on  Sat 
urday.1 

So  arbitrary  a  command  woke  resistance ;  and  on 
Monday,  the  llth,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  as 
soon  as  the  Clerk  had  opened  the  House  by  reading 
prayer,  Mr.  Paul  Wentworth  sprung  a  question,  new 
on  the  floor  of  that  House,  — "  whether  the  queen's 
command  and  inhibition,  that  they  should  no  longer 
dispute  the  matter  of  succession,  were  not  against  the 
liberties  and  privileges  of  the  House  ?  " 

The  idea  was  caught  up,  —  the  Puritan  idea,  which 
every  late  transaction  in  the  Parliament-House  and 
in  the  Palace  had  tended  to  elicit,  —  and  the  indigna 
tion  of  the  deputies  broke  forth.  The  imperiousness 
of  the  queen  was  equalled  by  the  resentment  of  her 
Commons.  How  far  the  particular  point  of  Went- 
worth's  great  question  was  discussed  is  unknown; 
but  a  more  liberal  illustration  of  Parliamentary 
liberty  and  privilege  was  never  given;  never  was 

1  D'Ewes,  128. 


CH.  XL]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  291 

the  prerogative  of  the  citizen  more  tenaciously 
seized  upon,  or  more  roundly  asserted.  The  mem 
bers  began  "tumultuously  to  twit  the  authority  of 
the  queen  " ;  and  declarations  the  most  startling,  and 
hitherto  on  that  floor  unparalleled  both  for  boldness 
and  for  doctrine,  were  given  forth  by  different  voices 
for  five  successive  hours.1  The  substance,  only,  of 
these  declarations  is  left  on  record,  and  was  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

"  The  impregnable  fort  of  princes,  their  only  prop 
and  pillar,  is  —  the  love  of  their  subjects.  To  secure 
this  love,  they  must  provide  for  the  well-being  of 
their  realms ;  not  for  the  term  of  their  own  lives 
only,  but  for  time  after  their  death.  This  provis 
ion  cannot  be  made  unless  a  successor  be  certainly 
known.  The  queen  is  bound  to  designate  her  suc 
cessor.  By  not  doing  so,  she  doth  provoke  God's 
wrath,  and  alienate  her  people.  If  she  regard  God's 
and  her  people's  favor,  let  her  do  her  duty,  else  she 
shall  no  more  be  reckoned  a  nurse,  a  mother,  but  a 
step-mother ;  nay,  a  parricide  of  the  country  which 
God  hath  given  her  to  foster.  It  shall  be  reckoned 
to  her  infamy,  that  she  would  rather  that  England, 
which  now  breatheth  with  her  breath,  should  die 
when  she  dies  than  survive  her. 

"  No  princes  have  ever  stood  in  fear  of  their  suc 
cessors,  but  such  as  have  been  hated  of  their  people, 
and  cowards,  and  timorous  women.  The  prince  who 
is  intrenched  in  the  people's  heart,  never  need  fear 


99   O 

a  successor. 


Out  of  doors,  moreover,  the   Commons   defamed 
Cecil  with  scandalous  slanders,  as  a  corrupt  counsel- 

1  D'Ewes,  128.  2  Camden,  83.     Echard,  807. 


292  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [Cn.  XI. 

lor  in  this  matter;  and  cursed  Huick,  the  queen's 
physician,  as  a  dissuader  of  her  Majesty  from  mar 
riage.1  The  debates  were  terminated  only  by  the 
lateness  of  the  hour. 

The  next  morning,  when  the  Commons  assembled, 
at  their  usual  hour  of  nine,  they  had  no  Speaker. 
The  queen  had  him  at  Whitehall.  She  kept  him 
there  until  after  ten  o'clock,  showing  him  what  a 
royal  woman's  wrath  was  when  roused  from  its  lair 
by  houndings  like  those  of  yesterday.  At  length  he 
appeared  in  his  place,  whence  he  announced,  that  "  it 
was  her  Highness'  special  command  to  the  House,  — 
although  she  had  sent  the  like  before,  —  that  there 
should  be  no  further  talk  there  touching  the  declara 
tion  of  a  successor;  and  that,  if  any  one  was  not 
satisfied,  but  had  further  reasons,  he  should  come 
before  the  Privy  Council  and  show  them."  2 

But  the  House,  with  unprecedented  daring  and 
firmness,  set  the  royal  command  at  defiance  ;  for  — 
although  nothing  further  of  their  debates  appears 
upon  record  —  they  "  did,  notwithstanding  these 
several  inhibitions  and  restrictions,  further  prosecute 

the  same  matter,  plainly  and  singly, until  the 

25th  of  the  month."3 

1  Cecil,  in  Murdin,   762.     Cam-    for  an  assertion  of  so  much  impor- 
den,  83.  tance.     The  second  is,  if  the  Com- 

2  D'Ewes,  128.  mons   did  not  continue  to   agitate 

3  Ibid.,  130.  the  subject  of  the  succession,  if  they 
I  have  two  reasons  for  the  asser-    obeyed  the  queen's  order  by  silence 

tion  that  the    Commons  were  not  thereupon   during  fourteen  succes- 

silenced    by    the    royal    command  sive  days,  from  the  1 2th  to  the  24th 

through  Mr.  Speaker  Onslow.     The  inclusive,  there  seems  to  have  been 

first    is,    the   explicit   assertion    of  no  occasion  for  the  very  remarkable 

D'Ewes  which  is  quoted  in  the  text ;  proceeding  of  the  queen  in  revok- 

although,  it  must  be  confessed,  it  is  ing  her  prohibition  on  the  25th. 

very  singular  that  he  gives  no  data  I  find  that  Mr.  Hallam   (p.  148) 


CH.  XL]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  293 

This  position  of  affairs  was  serious.  The  spirit, 
even  the  passions,  of  the  Commons  were  roused ; 
the  dignity,  the  authority  of  the  crown,  were  in 
danger  of  being  compromised.  At  this  point,  had 
the  latter  ventured  upon  another  provocation,  or  had 
not  soothed  the  manhood  which  it  had  stung,  it  is 
impossible  to  say  what  would  have  ensued.  But 
Elizabeth  wisely  receded.  On  Monday,  the  25th, 
she  sent  again  for  Onslow.  He  returned  from  White 
hall  to  the  Parliament-House  with  a  message  from 
her  Majesty,  that  she  did  take  back  her  two  former 
prohibitions  against  freedom  of  speech ;  "  a  revoca 
tion  which  was  taken  of  all  most  joyfully,  with 
hearty  thanks  for  the  same."  They  talked  no  more 
of  the  succession.  From  the  moment  they  had  been 
told  to  hush,  where  they  felt  they  had  a  right  to 
talk,  they  had  been  talking  that  they  might  preserve 
their  right, — talking  because  they  were  forbidden. 
The  withdrawal  of  the  commandment,  was  the  with 
drawal  of  the  cause.  This  gone,  they  ceased  of 
course;  and  the  contest  was  over.  They  were  the 
sons  of  men.1 

Elizabeth  had  been  convinced,  and  probably  by 
ministers  who  understood  human  nature  better  than 
she  did,  —  and  here  Cecil's  sagacity  is  indicated, — 
that  the  contest  was  hazardous ;  and  that  her  own 
yielding,  while  yet  it  could  be  as  an  act  of  grace, 
would  both  save  the  dignity  of  the  crown  and  end 
the  quarrel.  It  did;  and  that  one  of  her  temper 
and  her  notions  of  the  royal  prerogative  should  have 

seems  to  have  considered  the  de-  it,  he  says,  "  more,  probably,  hav- 
bates  continued  until  the  queen's  ing  passed  than  we  know  at  present." 
revocation,  when,  in  accounting  for  l  D'Ewes,  130. 


294  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [Cn.  XI. 

done  so,  is  sufficient  evidence  that  the  crisis  was  im 
perative. 

The  progress  of  the  subsidy  grant  is  not  traceable 
in  the  Journal  •  but  it  appears  that  a  third  payment 
—  a  greater  than  was  usual  —  had  been  offered  by 
the  Estates  on  condition  that  her  Majesty  would 
designate  a  successor ; 1  or  rather,  to  induce  her  to 
do  so ; 2  and  that  in  consideration  that  the  expecta 
tion  was  not  met,3  she  remitted  the  extraordinary 
payment,  saying,  with  happy  courtesy,  that  "  money 
in  her  subjects'  coffers  was  as  good  as  in  her  own." 4 

At  the  close  of  the  Parliament,  —  January  2d, 
1566-7,  —  after  the  customary  address  to  the  throne 
by  the  Speaker  of  the  Commons,  and  the  Lord 
Keeper's  reply  in  her  name,  —  in  which  he  censured 
them  for  proceedings  against  good  laws  and  for  ques 
tioning  her  Majesty's  prerogative,5  the  queen,  inno 
vating  upon  the  usual  course,  spake  herself  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

"  My  Lords,  and  others  the  Commons  of  this  as 
sembly,  I  have  a  few  words  further  to  speak  to  you, 
although  I  have  not  been  used,  nor  love,  to  do  it  in 
such  open  assemblies.  But  whereas  princes'  words 
do  enter  more  deeply  into  men's  ears  and  minds,  take 
these  things  from  our  mouth.  I,  that  am  a  lover  of 
simple  truth,  have  ever  thought  you  likewise  to  be 
ingenuous  lovers  of  the  same.  But  I  have  been 
deceived ;  for  in  this  Parliament  Dissimulation  hath 
walked  up  and  down,  masked  under  Liberty  and  Suc 
cession.  Some  of  you  have  thought  that  liberty  to 

1  Camden,  85,  86.  3  D'Ewes,  131.  Hallam,  81,  note,  149. 

8  Cecil,  in  Murdin,  762.  D'Ewes,    4  D'Ewes,  115.     Camden,  86. 
181.  5  D'Ewes,  115. 


CH.  XI.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1566.  295 

dispute  of  the  succession,  and  of  the  establishment 
of  the  same,  is  absolutely  to  be  granted  or  denied. 
Had  we  granted  it,  these  men  had  had  their  desire, 
and  had  triumphed  over  us.  Had  we  denied  it,  they 
thought  to  have  moved  what  foreign  enemy  never 
could, — the  hatred  of  my  Commons.  But  they 
began  to  pierce  the  vessel  before  the  wine  was  fined ; 
their  wisdom  was  unseasonable,  and  their  counsels 
over-hasty ;  nor  did  they  foresee  the  event,  which  is, 
that  we  have  easily  perceived  who  incline  towards 
us  and  who  are  adverse  to  us.  Your  whole  House 
may  be  divided  into  four  sorts ;  —  plotters ;  actors, 
persuading  by  smooth  words ;  consenters,  seduced  by 
those  smooth  words ;  and  the  mutes,  astonished  at 
such  audacity,  who  are  the  most  excusable. 

"  But  do  ye  think  that  we  neglect  your  security  as 
to  the  succession  ?  or  that  we  have  a  will  to  infringe 
your  liberty  ?  No.  It  was  never  my  meaning ;  but 
to  stay  you  before  you  fell  into  the  ditch.  Every 
thing  hath  his  fit  season.  Ye  may,  peradventure, 
have  after  us  a  wiser  prince ;  but  a  more  loving, 
never. 

u  For  our  part,  whether  we  may  see  such  a  Par 
liament  again,  we  know  not;  but  for  you,  beware 
lest  ye  provoke  your  prince's  patience,  as  ye  have 
now  done  mine.  Nevertheless,  —  not  to  make  a 
Lent  of  Christmas,  —  the  most  part  may  assure 
yourselves  that  ye  depart  in  your  prince's  grace." l 

The  Lord  Keeper  then  dissolved  the  Parliament. 

Elizabeth  unquestionably  considered  the  right  of 
succession  to  be  in  Mary  of  Scotland.  To  her,  while 

1  D'Ewes,  116,  and  Camden,  89,  collated. 


296  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  fCn.  XL 

a  widow,  she  had  already  signified  that  her  marriage 
with  some  approved  English  nobleman  might  open 
a  way  for  a  declaration  in  her  favor;  that  "such  a 
declaration  would  be  hasted  forward  according  to 
Mary's  good  behavior,  and  applying  herself  to  follow 
Elizabeth's  pleasure  and  advice  in  her  marriage  "  ! 1 
It  had  also  "  been  secretly  thought  of  in  the  English 
cabinet,  that  Mary  should  surrender  unto  Elizabeth 
and  to  heirs  of  her  body  all  manner  of  claim ;  in 
consideration  of  which,  the  Scottish  queen's  interest 
should  be  acknowledged  in  default  of  heirs  of  the 
body  of  Queen  Elizabeth."2  In  May,  1564,  John 
Hales  had  been  committed  to  prison  for  writing  a 
book  against  the  Queen  of  Scots'  title  to  the  crown 3 ; 
and  now,  immediately  after  the  dissolution  of  Parlia 
ment,  upon  Mary's  complaint  that  a  lawyer  in  Lin 
coln's  Inn  had  questioned  her  right,  Elizabeth,  to 
appease  the  public  mind  by  an  intimation  of  her 
own  opinion,  imprisoned  him  in  the  Tower.4  The 
reasons  for  her  unwillingness  to  declare  her  succes 
sor  she  had  signified  in  part  to  the  Lords  of  Council 
as  stated  above.  But  as  her  declaration,  if  made, 
would  doubtless  have  been  in  Mary's  favor,  she  also 
had  fears  —  of  a  politico-religious  kind  —  that  a  con 
firmation  of  her  title  now  would  facilitate,  if  not 
suggest,  some  attempt  to  place  the  Catholic  princess 
in  possession.5  This  gives  a  clew  to  the  meaning  of 
several  obscure  expressions  in  her  address  to  the 
Parliament.  "We  are  bound  to  suppose  that  her  fears 

1  Melvil,  82,  95.     Echard,  805.  *  Cecil,  in  Murdin,  762.      Cam- 

2  Hardwicke  Papers,  I.  174  ;  Ce-    den,  89. 

cilto  Throckmorton,  in  1561.  5  Melvil,  94;  Elizabeth  to  Mel- 

3  Strype's  Annals,  II.  117,  121.         vil.     Hallam,  81. 


Ce.  XL]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  297 

were  not  groundless;  and,  if  so,  she  is  to  be  jus 
tified  for  her  inflexible  refusal  to  avow  her  suc 
cessor.1 

The  Commons,  however,  were  not  fired  by  her 
refusal  so  much  as  by  her  imperious  orders  against 
the  right  of  debate ;  and  it  is  this  fact  only  which 
invests  their  behavior  with  interest  to  the  student 
of  Puritan  history,  —  the  initiating  upon  that  floor 
the  same  questions,  "What  are  the  rights  of  the 
prince?"  "What  are  the  rights  of  the  subject?" 
which  had  been  originated  in  a  humbler  sphere ;  the 
same  questions,  —  only  with  a  broader,  a  political 
application ;  the  same  leaven  in  another  measure  of 
meal. 

There  will  be  occasion  to  observe  its  working  here 
after. 

It  may  be  as  appropriate  in  this  connection  as 
elsewhere  to  dwell  a  moment  upon  Queen  Elizabeth's 
persistence  in  a  life  of  celibacy. 

Perhaps  the  desirableness  of  her  marriage,  as  the 
means  of  providing  an  undisputed  and  acceptable 
heir  to  her  throne,  cannot  be  more  succinctly  brought 
to  view  than  by  the  following  scrap  of  a  dialogue 
between  the  Queen  Dowager  of  France  and  Sir 
Thomas  Smith,  as  reported  by  himself. 

" '  Jesu  ! '  saith  she,  '  and  doth  not  your  mistress 
see  that  she  shall  be  always  in  danger  until  she 
marry?  That  once  done,  and  in  some  good  house, 

1  The  embarrassments  attending  the  Queen  of  Scots,  are  set  forth 

the  declaration  of  Elizabeth's  sue-  at  large,  and  with  admirable  clear- 

cessor,  whether  she  and  her  Parlia-  ness  by  Hume.  (III.  7,  8.  Chap, 

ment  should  decide  for  or  against  XXXIX.)  See  also  Hallam,  81. 

VOL.  I.  38 


298  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [On.  XL 

who  shall  dare  attempt  anything  against  her?' 
6  Madam/  quoth  I,  '  I  think  if  she  were  once  mar 
ried,  all  in  England  that  had  any  traitorous  hearts 
would  be  discouraged:  for  one  tree  alone  may 
soon  be  cut  down,  but  when  there  be  two  or  three 
together,  it  is  longer  a-doing,  and  one  shall  watch 
for  the  other ;  but  if  she  had  a  child,  then  all  these 
bold  and  troublesome  titles  of  the  Scotch  queen,  or 
other  that  make  such  gaping  for  her  death,  will  be 
clean  choked  up.'  "  * 

The  danger  of  the  queen's  life,  and  the  danger  to 
her  kingdom  should  her  life  fail  by  assassination  or 
otherwise,  are  both  indicated  here ;  and  on  these 
grounds  her  people  and  her  ministers  were  intensely 
anxious  for  her  marriage.  Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  Elizabeth  herself  did  not  both  understand  and 
appreciate  these  reasons ;  and  although  she  seems  to 
have  been  apathetic,  to  a  degree  which  distressed 
and  almost  irritated  her  Council,  in  reference  to  plots 
against  her  life,  yet  she  was  by  no  means  indifferent 
to  the  good  of  her  people. 

In  woman,  the  craving  for  something  to  love  is 
peculiarly  an  instinct,  —  a  special  provision  for  those 
relations  of  life  which  are  designed  peculiarly  for 
herself.  Where,  by  any  chance,  these  relations  do 
not  spring  up,  the  instinct  cannot  be  so  easily  sup 
pressed,  or  so  easily  appeased  by  substitutes,  as  the 
meaner  one  in  men.  It  is  ever  feeling  after  some 
thing  human  on  which  to  repose,  and  for  something 
human  to  cherish.  It  was,  therefore,  with  a  signifi 
cance  which  none  but  a  true  woman  can  comprehend, 
that  Elizabeth  called  England  her  husband,  and  Eng- 

1  Digges,  167;  Smith  to  Burleigh,  1571-2. 


CH.  XL]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  299 

lishmen  her  children.  Much  as  she  courted  the 
people,  this  language  was  not  the  mere  rhetoric  of  a 
court,  or  the  clap-trap  of  a  demagogue.  With  her, 
it  was  truth.  It  expressed,  as  no  other  language 
could  have  done,  the  nature  of  those  sentiments 
which,  as  a  woman-prince  and  unwived,  she  cherished 
towards  her  realm  and  her  people.  Here  were  en 
twined  those  womanly  affections  whose  appropriate 
objects  she  lacked. 

In  the  following  charge  to  her  Council  and  Judges, 
"as  one  reporteth  who  saith  he  heard  it  with  his 
own  ears,"  the  woman  spake  as  truly  as  the  queen. 

"Have  a  care  over  my  people.  You  have  my 
place.  Do  you  that  which  I  ought  to  do.  They  are 
my  people.  Every  man  oppresseth  them,  and  spoileth 
them  without  mercy.  They  cannot  revenge  their 
quarrel,  nor  help  themselves.  See  unto  them;  see 
unto  them,  for  they  are  my  charge.  I  charge  you, 
even  as  God  hath  charged  me.  I  care  not  for  myself; 
my  life  is  not  dear  to  me ;  my  care  is  for  my  people. 
I  pray  God,  whosoever  succeed  me  be  as  careful  as  I 
am.  They  which  might  know  what  cares  I  bear 
would  not  think  I  took  any  great  joy  in  wearing  the 
crown." 

"  Could  a  mother,"  adds  the  chronicler,  "  speak 
more  tenderly  for  her  infant,  than  this  good  queen 
speaketh  for  her  people  ?  " l 

In  1581,  Sir  Edward  Stafford  was  sent  envoy  to 
France,  chiefly  to  observe  the  behavior  of  the  French 
towards  the  Low  Countries,  of  which  the  sovereignty 
had  just  been  offered  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  for 
whose  marriage  with  Elizabeth  a  negotiation  was 

1  Holingshed,  IV.  253. 


300  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1566.  [On.  XI. 

then  in  process.  Who  but  a  true  woman  could  have 
written  thus  ? 

"  0  Stafford !  I  think  not  myself  well  used,  and 
so  tell  Monsieur,  that  I  am  made  a  stranger  to  my 
self,  which  lie  must  be  if  this  matter  take  place.  In 
my  name  show  him  how  impertinent  it  is  for  this 
season,  to  bring  to  the  ears  of  our  people  so  ungrate 
ful  news.  God  forbid  that  the  banes  *  of  our  nuptial 
feast  should  be  savored  with  the  sauce  of  our  sub 
jects'  wealth  !  0,  what  may  they  think  of  me,  that 
for  any  glory  of  my  own  would  procure  the  ruin  of 
my  land !  Hitherto  they  have  thought  me  no  fool : 

let  me  not  live  the  longer  the  worse My 

mortal  foe  can  noways  wish  me  a  greater  loss  than 
England's  hate ;  neither  should  death  be  less  welcome 
unto  me  than  such  mishap  betide  me.  You  see  how 
nearly  this  matter  wringeth  me,  use  it  accordingly. 

Kather  will  I  never  meddle  with  marriage, 

than  have  such  a  bad  covenant  added  to  my  part. 
Shall  it  ever  be  found  true,  that  Queen  Elizabeth 
hath  solemnized  the  perpetual  harm  of  England 
under  the  glorious  title  of  marriage  with  Francis, 

heir  of  France  ?     No,  no ;  it  shall  never  be 

I   hope    I  shall  not  live   to    that  hour In 

haste,  your  sovereign,  Elizabeth." 2 

The  simple  solemnity  of  her  charge  and  the  ner 
vous  pathos  of  her  letter  betoken  sincerity.  Such  is 
not  the  style  of  the  cabinet,  but  of  nature,  of  heart, 
of  self-sacrificing  affection.  But  when  this  charge 
was  uttered  and  this  letter  penned,  no  one  thing 
was  so  ominous  of  "  the  perpetual  harm  of  England " 
as  her  lack  of  an  heir  of  her  body.  Yet  she  rejected 

1  The  banns.  2  Wright,  IL  151. 


CH.  XL]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  156&  301 

suitor  after  suitor,  and  went  through  the  term  of  her 
virility,  "  a  barren  stock."  Such  conduct,  in  such 
a  sovereign,  under  such  circumstances,  can  be  ac 
counted  for  only  upon  the  supposition  of  some  in 
surmountable  impediment  to  marriage,  some  organic 
defect  which  assured  her  loss  of  life  in  giving  life,  — 
of  such  a  nature  that  she  could  not  disclose  it  to  her 
ministers,  —  and  which,  had  it  been  known,  would 
have  demonstrated  the  very  absurdity  of  calumnies 
which  we  shall  notice  hereafter.  This  conclusion  is 
confirmed  by  the  probability  that  Huick  was  K  a  dis- 
suader  of  her  marriage  " ;  and  aiFectingly  so,  by  that 
bitter  wail  of  hers  when  reporting  to  her  ladies  that 
Mary  was  a  mother.1 

1  Bayle,  in  his  Notes  L  and  T,  only  good  sense  to  be  extorted  from 

under  the  article  "  Elizabeth,"  can-  his  quotation  from  the  Abbot  Siri  is, 

vasses  this  matter  a  la  Franfais  ;  that  the  Abbot  was  simply  silly,  and 

with  which  I  will  not  offend  my  sillily  simple, 
readers.    One  word  of  it  only.  The 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   FIRST  SEPARATION. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  SEPARATE  WORSHIP  OPENED.  —  RESTRAINT  UPON  THE  PRESS. 
—  SEPARATION  DISCUSSED.  —  RESOLVED  UPON.— CONVENTICLES.  — THE  QUEEN 
INCENSED.  —  THE  CONGREGATION  IN  THE  HALL  OF  THE  PLUMBERS  AR 
RESTED. —  THE  EXAMINATION.  —  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  CLAIMED.  —  PRISONERS 
SENT  TO  BRIDEWELL.  —  THE  CHURCH  ESTABLISHMENT  SHAPED  TO  WIN  THE 
CATHOLICS.  —  OBJECTIONS  TO  SUCH  A  PLATFORM.  —  EXPULSION  OF  NON 
CONFORMISTS  FROM  THE  OFFICES  OF  THE  CHURCH  JUSTIFIABLE  —  ECCLE 
SIASTICALLY.  —  PUNISHMENT  FOR  PREACHING  JUSTIFIABLE  —  LEGALLY.  — 
FOLLY  OF  ECCLESIASTICAL  PRECISIANISM  AND  COMPULSION.  —  THE  RIGHT  TO 
MAKE  LAWS  INVOLVES  THE  RlGHT  TO  PUNISH.  —  THE  DOGMA  OF  "CHURCH 
AND  STATE." 

1566-1567. 

THE  Puritans  had  sought  for  toleration.  They 
had  plied  all  their  influence,  and  set  in  motion  all 
their  friends  at  Court/  that  the  letter  of  the  law's 
penalty  might  not  be  urged  upon  them,  —  that  they 
might  not  be  compelled  to  use  vestments  and  cere 
monies  which  they  regarded  as  symbols  and  abet 
tors  of  a  false  religion.  They  had  failed.  The  queen 
had  roused  her  primate  to  enforce  uniformity;  the 
primate,  in  his  turn,  had  called  upon  the  queen  for 
help;  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  had  been  at 
work  ;  and  the  non-conforming  clergy,  by  scores, 
had  been  forbidden  to  preach,  and  ejected  from  their 
livings. 

For  "  seven  or  eight  weeks  "  after  the  last  citation 

1  Strype's  Parker,  229. 


CH.  XII.]  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  303 

and  discipline  of  ministers,  in  March,  1565-6,1  they 
and  their  people  had  contented  themselves  with 
going  hither  and  yon  to  hear  such  preachers  as 
Coverdale,  Sampson,  and  Lever.  But  when  this  re 
source  failed  them,  or  became  precarious,  —  as  men 
tioned  at  the  close  of  our  ninth  chapter,  —  they  had 
begun,  as  Pilkington  stated  to  Leicester,  to  talk 
about  worshipping  by  themselves,  and  in  a  manner 
consonant  with  their  own  ideas  of  Gospel  simplicity. 
This  term  of  u  seven  or  eight  weeks "  shows  that 
this  device  must  have  been  propounded  about  the 
10th  of  May. 

They  had  also  had  recourse  to  the  press ;  and  set 
forth  books  in  justification  of  their  opinions  and  be 
havior.2  These  books  "  were  written  with  so  much 
confidence  and  sharpness,  that  the  Archbishop  and  the 
state  thought  fit  to  have  them  considered  and  an 
swered."  3  But  the  Commissioners  were  not  content 
with  rejoinders  from  the  press.  They  "thought  it 
not  convenient,  by  any  means,  that  the  queen's  in 
junctions  and  other  laws  and  ordinances,  made  for 
the  regular  and  uniform  worship  of  God,  should  be 
thus  openly  impugned."  They  had  therefore  moved 
the  Council  for  a  decree  from  the  Star-Chamber,  pro 
hibiting  such  publications ;  and  accordingly,  on  the 
29th  of  June,  such  a  decree  had  been  published,  and 
with  the  signatures  of  some  whose  policy,  if  not 
sympathy,  was  averse  to  such  measures.4  It  forbade, 
under  very  severe  penalties,  the  publishing,  the  sale, 
and  every  part  of  the  manufacturing,  of  any  book 

1  Strype's  Parker,  241,  242  ;  Grin-        3  Strype's  Parker,  220. 
dal,  116.  *  Ibid.,  221,  222. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  220,  221 ;  An 
nals,  H.  162-169. 


304  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

against  the  force  and  meaning  of  any  orders  set 
forth,  or  to  be  set  forth,  touching  religions  worship ; 
and  authorized  search  for  any  such  books  in  all  sus 
pected  places.  It  also  required  bonds  of  every  book 
seller,  printer,  and  binder  to  heed  the  prohibitions  or 
to  meet  the  forfeitures. 

It  does  not  appear  at  what  precise  time  it  was 
definitely  resolved  to  establish  separate  religious 
assemblies,  but  it  must  have  been  before  the  month 
of  August ; l  and  it  was  probably  soon  after,  and  has 
tened  by,  this  decree.  A  letter  of  Bullinger,  about 
the  lawfulness  of  wearing  the  habits,  which  Grindal 
had  published  in  Latin  and  in  English,  had  had  great 
influence.  Some  of  the  clergy,  who  had  resolved  to 
leave  the  ministry  rather  than  to  comply  in  this 
thing,  were  induced  by  the  reasonings  of  the  Helve 
tian  doctor  to  change  their  minds ;  and  many  of  the 
common  people  to  abandon  all  thoughts  of  separa 
tion.2 

But  there  were  others  who  could  not  consent  to 
use  or  to  countenance  the  Popish  ceremonies  of  the 
Church,  and  especially  the  habits,  which,  being  con 
stantly  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  were  the  most 
harmful  in  their  influence.  These  men,  having  been 
baffled  in  their  devices  to  hear  Coverdale  and  other 
"  ministers  who  would  not  obey  their  suspensions," 
had  held  solemn  consultations  about  "  the  lawfulness 
and  necessity  of  separating  from  the  Established 
Church "  •  and  had  at  last  deliberately  resolved  to 
do  so.  They  had  hesitated  awhile  whether  to  use 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  105.  linger  and  Gualter,  Feb.,   1566-7. 

2  Zurich  Letters,  No.  CXI.,  Grin-     Strype's  Parker,  229  ;  Grindal,  105, 
dal  to  Bullinger,  Aug.,  1566  ;  No.     106. 

CXXL,  Grindal  and  Horn  to  Bui- 


CH.  XII]  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  305 

in  their  worship  "as  much  of  the  Common  Prayer 
and  service  of  the  Church  as  was  not  offensive  "  ;  or, 
instead  thereof,  "  the  book  framed  at  Geneva  for  the 
congregation  of  the  English  exiles  there,  which  was 
mostly  taken  out  of  the  Genevan  form."  After  free 
debate,  the  latter  had  been  chosen  as  most  consonant 
to  the  Holy  Scriptures.  From  this  time  they  had 
continued  to  worship  by  themselves ;  meeting  in 
private  houses,  barns,  and  sometimes  in  the  woods, 
or  other  secluded  spots  in  the  neighboring  country, 
where  they  had  prayers,  sermons,  and  the  ministra 
tion  of  the  sacraments.1 

But  these  proceedings  could  not  long  remain 
concealed.  The  bishops  heard  of  them,  and  were 
startled.  To  reach  the  yet  unknown  offenders,  an 
earnest  remonstrance  and  exhortation,  supposed  to 
have  been  written  by  Cox  or  Jewel,  was  issued  anon 
ymously  from  the  press.2  The  queen,  highly  in 
censed  by  so  bold  a  departure  from  the  order  of 
her  Church,  and  so  flagrant  a  slight  upon  her  suprem 
acy  and  laws,  immediately  issued  letters  to  her  Eccle 
siastical  Commissioners,  and  to  the  Bishop  of  Lon 
don  in  particular,  commanding  them  to  discover  the 
offenders  and  to  reclaim  them  to  their  parish  church 
es,  by  gentle  means  if  possible ;  and  if  these  failed, 
to  assure  them,  that  they  should  be  deprived  of  the 
freedom  of  the  city  for  their  first  punishment,  and 
for  the  next,  abide  other  penalties.3 

This  order  of  the  queen,  being  designed  and  used 
only  for  the  Commissioners,  was  not  known  to  those 

1   Strype's  Parker,  241 ;   Grindal,         2  Strype's  Parker,  220. 
114.     Camden,   192.      Collier,   VI         s  Ibid.,  242;  Grindal,  115. 
443.     Carte,  III.  495.     Neal  I.  104. 

VOL.  i.  39 


306  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

whom  it  threatened;  and,  had  it  been,  would  not, 
probably,  have  turned  them  from  a  course  so  de 
liberately  and  seriously  adopted.  They  continued 
their  assemblies  with  as  much  caution  and  secrecy  as 
possible.  In  the  mean  time,  the  bills  introduced  to 
Parliament,  "  touching  reformation  of  matters  of  re 
ligion  and  church  government,"  had  failed.1  For 
nearly  a  year,  these  separatists  appear  to  have  met 
only  in  the  suburbs  of  London.  But  at  length, 
growing  more  bold,  they  ventured  to  do  so  within 
the  city  itself2;  and  on  the  19th  of  June,  1567, 
occupied  the  hall  in  Anchor  Lane 3  belonging  to  the 
Company  of  the  Plumbers.  It  had  been  hired  by 
them  for  the  day,  of  the  woman  who  had  it  in 
charge,  under  pretence  of  a  wedding. 

About  a  hundred  were  assembled.  The  clergymen 
present  were  Christopher  Coleman,  John  Benson, 
Thomas  Rowland,  and  Robert  Hawkins,  all  of  whom 
"  had  been  beneficed  "  within  the  diocese  of  London, 
but  were  now  deprived.4  The  sudden  appearance  of 
sheriffs  at  their  door  arrested  their  worship,  and 
threw  them  into  consternation.  Thirty-one  of  them 
—  twenty-four  men  and  seven  women5 — were  seized 
and  hurried  to  the  Compter  prison. 

The  next  day,  two  of  the  ministers,  Rowland  and 

1  D'Ewes,  185.     Strype's  Parker,  242),  says,  "  fourteen  or  fifteen  were 

220.  sent  to  prison  " ;  yet  in  his  Life  of 

3  Brook,  I.  29.  Grindal  (p.  136),  apparently  refer- 

3  Stow's  Survey,  442.  ring  to  the  same  company,  he  gives 

4  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  81;  who  adds  the  number  discharged  as  twenty- 
to  these,  as  a  clergyman,  the  name  four  men  and  seven  women.     Neal 
of  William  White.     But  he  was  a  says,  "most  of  them,"i.  e.  ofthehun- 
layman.      Neal,  I.    104,  109,  note,  dred,  "  were  committed  to  custody." 
Brook,  I.  145,  note  L,  147.  So  says  Brook.     Yet  both  give  the 

8  Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Parker  (p.     number  discharged  only  thirty-one. 


CH.  XII]  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  307 

Hawkins,  and  four  of  the  laymen,  Smith,  Nixson, 
White,  and  Ireland,  were  brought  before  Grindal, 
Bishop  of  London,  Goodman,  Dean  of  Westminster ; 
Dr.  Archdeacon  Watts,  Sir  Koger  Martin,  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  and  their  associates,  —  all  the 
queen's  Commissioners.  They  were  immediately  put 
upon  examination,  on  the  charge  of  meeting  for 
prayer,  preaching,  and  the  sacraments,  contrary  to 
the  act  of  Parliament,  and  of  withdrawing  from  their 
parish  churches.  At  the  opening  of  their  examina 
tion,  the  Bishop  showed  them  the  queen's  letter,1 
and  reproved  them  for  the  deceit  they  had  practised 
to  get  possession  of  the  Hall.  To  this  it  was  replied, 
that  they  did  so  to  save  the  woman  harmless  who 
let  it  to  them.  Grindal  told  them  plainly,  that,  what- 
ever  their  object,  it  was  lying;  and  that  they  had 
hereby  put  the  woman  to  great  blame,  and  exposed 
her  to  the  loss  of  her  office,  which  was  against  the 
rule  of  charity.2 

"  Have  you  not  the  Gospel  truly  preached  in  the 
Church  established  by  law  ?  "  he  continued.  "  Have 
we  not  the  sacraments  duly  administered,  and  good 
order  preserved  ?  albeit,  in  ceremonies  that  be  indif 
ferent,  which  the  prince  hath  a  right  to  order,  we  fol 
low  not  some  other  of  the  Reformed  churches.  What 
say  you,  Smith?  you  seem  to  be  the  ancientest." 

"My  lord,  we  thank  God  for  the  Reformation. 
What  we  desire  is  only,  that  all  may  be  according 
to  the  Word  of  God.3  As  long  as  we  could  have 


1  It  is  from  this  fact  only  that  I  2  Strype's  Parker,  242 ;    Grindal, 

have  inferred,  as  stated  above,  that  115. 

the  queen's  letter  was  unknown  to  3  Strype's  Grindal,  115. 
them,  and  had  not  been  made  public. 


308  THE  FIRST   SEPAEATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

the  Word  preached  freely,  and  the  sacrament  admin 
istered  without  the  preferring  of  idolatrous  gear 
about  it,  we  never  assembled  in  private  houses. 
But  when  it  came  to  this  point,  that  all  our  preachers 
were  displaced  by  your  law  that  would  not  subscribe 
to  the  apparel  and  law,  so  that  we  could  hear  none 
of  them  in  any  church  by  the  space  of  seven  or 
eight  weeks,  except  Father  Coverdale,1  who  at  length 
durst  not  make  known  unto  us  where  he  preached, 
and  when  we  were  troubled  in  your  courts  from  day 
to  day  for  not  coming  to  our  parish  churches,2  we 
resolved  to  meet  privately  together:'3 

"  This  is  no  answer,"  replied  the  Bishop.  "  This  is 
no  sufficient  reason  for  not  going  to  church,  as  ye 
are  required  to  do." 

66  Would  your  Lordship  have  us  go  backward  in 
religion  ?  Yet  I  had  as  lief  go  to  Mass,  as  to  some 
churches ;  ay,  my  lord,  as  lief  to  Mass  as  to  my 
own  parish  church,  for  the  minister  be  a  very 
Papist."  * 

"  And  I,"  said  Nixson,  "  know  one  that  persecuted 
God's  saints  in  Queen  Mary's  time,  and  brought 
them  before  Bonner ;  and  yet  now  he  is  a  minister 
allowed  of  in  the  Church,  though  he  hath  never 
made  recantation."  5 

Others  of  the  prisoners  said  the  same  of  other 
ministers.  Indeed  it  was  but  too  true,  that  the 
bishops,  or  rather  the  law,  by  which  the  bishops 
were  guided,  while  ejecting  Protestant  preachers, 
allowed  Popish  priests  in  the  ministry,  on  the  single 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  116.  *  Brook,  I.  135. 

2  Brook,  I.  135.  5  Strype's  Annals,  I.  264. 
8  Strype's  Grindal,  116. 


CH.  XILj  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  309 

condition  of  conformity  and  subscribing  to  the  doc 
trine  of  the  Established  Church.  It  was  notorious, 
also,  that  "  these  perjured  hypocrites,  bearing  two 
faces  under  one  hood,"  encouraged  their  parishioners, 
as  much  as  they  durst,  to  favor  Popery.1 

"  Troth ! "  exclaimed  the  Dean  of  Westminster, 
66  they  account  the  service  and  reformation  in  the 
days  of  good  King  Edward,  of  blessed  memory,  no 
better  than  the  Mass  ! " 

"  Or  else,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  they  judge  all  minis 
ters  Popish  because  they  find  here  and  there  one  so. 
But,"  turning  to  the  prisoners,  "  ye  may  go  to  other 
places,  where  they  minister  who  will  give  you  none 
offence." 

"  Do  but  make  inquisition,  my  lord,"  replied  White, 
a  sturdy  citizen  of  London  and  a  man  of  fortune,2 
"  and  you  shall  find  a  great  company  of  Papists  in 
this  very  city  whom  you  hold  in  the  ministry,  while 
you  thrust  out  others  who  are  both  godly  and 
learned." 

"  Canst  accuse  any  such  of  false  doctrine  ?  " 

"Ay,  that  can  I,"  replied  Nixson;  "and  he  one 
now  present  in  this  Court.  Let  him  come  forth,  an 
he  be  not  ashamed,  and  answer  to  his  preaching  rank 
Papistry  from  the  tenth  chapter  of  John's  Gospel. 
There  he  standeth,  my  lord,"  pointing  out  the  man 
among  the  by-standers.  "  Master  Bedell  is  the  man. 
He  is  one  of  your  Popish  ones,  my  lord." 

Bedell  hung  his  head  at  the  accusation ;  but  an 
swered  not  a  word.  The  Bishop  and  the  other  Com 
missioners  looked  upon  one  another  as  if  perplexed ; 

1  Strype's  Annals,  I.  264,  265.  2  Brook,  I.  145,  note. 


310  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

but  they  took  no  further  notice  of  the  charge.1 
The  Dean  of  Westminster  diverted  attention  from 
a  matter  so  embarrassing. 

"  You  seem/'  said  he,  "  to  question  both  the  author 
ity  of  the  prince  in  appointing,  and  the  liberty  of  a 
Christian  man  in  using,  such  things  in  divine  wor 
ship  as  are  indifferent." 

«  Of  a  truth  ye  do,"  added  the  Bishop ;  "  and  for 
so  doing  ye  suffer  justly." 

"  Not  so,  my  lord,"  replied  Hawkins.  "  We  would 
not  minish  aught  either  of  princely  authority  or 
of  Christian  liberty.  Howbeit,  it  doth  in  no  wise 
belong  to  princely  authority  to  command,  nor  to  Chris 
tian  liberty  to  use,  nor  to  either  to  defend,  that  which 
pertaineth  to  Papistry  and  idolatry." 

66  Do  you  ever  hear  us  maintain  such  things  ? " 
challenged  the  Dean. 

"  We  allow  we  do  not  hear  you.  Nevertheless,  by 
your  doings  and  by  your  laws,  ye  do  it.  You  preach 
Christ  to  be  a  prophet  and  a  priest,  but  not  to  be 
a  king.  Ye  allow  not  that  he  reigneth  in  his  Church 
alone,  by  the  sceptre  of  his  Word ;  for,  by  your  rule, 
the  Pope's  canon  law2  and  the  will  of  the  prince 
must  be  preferred  before — that  is  to  say,  must  govern 
—  the  preaching  of  the  Word  and  the  ministering  of 
ordinances." 

"  Prithee,  what  is  so  preferred  ?  "  asked  the  Bishop. 

1  Grindal's      Remains      (Parker  canonist  about  this  time  "  —  1562  — 
Soc.),  204.     Brook,  I.  136,  note.  "  wrote  a  tract  for  the  regulation  of 

2  'k  The  canon  law  seemed  yet  to  the  canonists  and  of  the  said  canon 

be  in  some  force,  which  contained  law for  the  queen  and  this 

many  things  in  it  directly  favoring  Parliament  to  take  into  considera- 

the  Bishop  of  Rome  and  his  super-  tion."  —  Strype's  Annals,  1.  532. 
stitions;    and   therefore   a  learned 


CH.  XII.  1  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  oil 

"  Your  laws,  your  copes,  your  surplices,"  answered 
Nixson ;  "  for  ye  suffer  none  to  preach  or  to  adminis 
ter,  except  they  wear  these  things,  and  subscribe  a 
promise  to  wear  them." 

"  Not  so  !  "  exclaimed  the  Bishop  ;  "  not  so  !  What 
say  you  of  Sampson  and  Lever,  —  of  Fox,  and  Hum 
phrey,  and  Coverdale  ?  They  neither  wear  the  hab 
its,  nor  subscribe.  Yet  do  they  not  preach  ?  " 

"  Of  a  truth,  they  preach,  and  they  preach  the 
truth,  my  lord,"  interposed  White.  "Yet  some  of 
them  you  have  deprived ;  and  your  law  standeth  in 
force  against  them  all.  You  suffer  them ;  but  others, 
though  sound  in  doctrine,  you  do  not  suffer.  For 
what  cause  ye  do  make  this  difference,  it  passeth  me 
to  know." 

"  Sampson,  Fox,  and  others,  will  not  preach  among 
such  as  you,  who  separate  from  the  Church,"  retorted 
the  Bishop. 

"  My  lord,  your  doings  are  the  cause  why  they 
will  not." 

"  Neither  will  they  join  with  you"  added  Hawkins. 
"  One  of  them  told  me,  that  he  wrould  rather  be  torn 
into  an  hundred  pieces  than  communicate  with  you 
after  your  forms.1  We  neither  hold  to,  nor  allow, 
anything  not  contained  in  God's  Word.  This  is  the 
marrow  of  our  offence.  This  is  the  point  whence 
you  and  we  part.  If  you  think  that  we  hold  not  to 
that  which  is  true  and  right,  show  it  to  us,  and  we 
will  renounce  it." 

"You  are  not  obedient  to  the  authority  of  the 
prince,"  said  the  Dean. 

"  Indeed  we  are,"  replied  White ;  "  for  we  resist 

1  Stiype's  Parker,  243. 


312  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

not,  but  suffer  what  the  authority  seeth  fit  to  lay 
on  us." 

"  So  do  thieves/'  rejoined  the  Bishop. 

"  What  a  comparison,  my  lord  !  They,  for  evil- 
doing  •  we,  for  serving  God  according  to  his  Word ! " 

"  Both  prince  and  people,"  said  Nixson,  "  ought  to 
obey  the  Word  of  God." 

"  True,"  replied  the  Bishop  ;  "  but  obedience  con- 
sisteth  of  three  points.  First,  that  which  God  com- 
mandeth  may  not  be  left  undone.  Second,  that 
which  God  forbiddeth  may  not  be  done.  Third,  that 
which  God  hath  neither  commanded  nor  forbidden, 
—  indifferent  things,  —  princes  have  authority  to  ap 
point  and  command." 

"Let  that  be  proved  to  us,  my  lord,  if  it  can." 
"  My  lord,  where  find  you  that  doctrine  ?  "  exclaimed 
the  prisoners. 

"  Of  a  truth ! "  exclaimed  the  Bishop  in  amaze 
ment,  "I  have  talked  with  many  persons  touching 
this  matter,  yet  I  never  saw  any  behave  themselves 
so  irreverently  before  magistrates."  And  he  would 
not  debate  the  point.1 

"Pray,  my  lord,"  said  Smith,  "how  can  those 
things  be  indifferent  that  be  abominable?" 

"  You  mean  our  caps  and  tippets,  which  you  say 
came  from  Home?" 

"  Troth,  my  lord,"  responded  Ireland.  "  They  be 
long  to  the  Papists ;  to  the  Papists  throw  them." 

"  You  would  have  us  use  nothing  which  the  Papists 
have  used  ?  Then,  forsooth,  we  must  needs  use  no 
churches,  seeing  the  Papists  used  them,"  said  Dr. 
Watts. 

1  Neal,  I.  109. 


CH.  XII.]  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  313 

"  Christ  did  cast  the  buyers  and  sellers,  and  their 
wares,  out  of  the  temple/'  rejoined  White;  "yet 
was  not  the  temple  overthrown,  for  all  that." 

"  Moreover,"  added  Hawkins,  "  churches  are  neces 
sary  to  keep  our  bodies  from  the  rain;  but  copes 
and  surplices  are  superstitious  and  idolatrous." 

The  Bishop  insisted  that  "  things  not  forbidden  of 
God  might  be  used  for  the  sake  of  order  and  obedi 
ence." 

To  which  Hawkins  replied,  "But  not  the  cere 
monies  of  Antichrist,  my  lord ;  to  which  you  have 
brought  the  Gospel  and  its  ordinances  into  bondage, 
thereby  defending  idolatry  and  Papistry." 

After  some  desultory  conversation  about  the  opin 
ions  and  usages  of  the  Church  of  Geneva,  Hawkins 
remarked,  "  By  your  severities,  you  drive  us  into  a 
separation  against  our  wills!' 

"My  lord,"  said  Nixson,  "let  us  answer  to  your 
first  question,  —  whether  the  Gospel  be  not  truly 
preached  in  the  Church  established." 

"Say  on,  Nixson." 

"  We  do  not  refuse  your  communion  and  worship, 
on  pretence  that  you  preach  not  the  Word  of  God ; 
but  because  you  have  tied  the  ceremonies  of  Anti 
christ  to  your  ministry,  and  set  them  before  it,  so  that 
no  man  may  preach  or  administer  the  sacraments 
tvithout  them.  It  is  the  compelling  these  things  ly  law 
that  hath  made  us  separate.1  Before  you  compelled  the 
ceremonies,  all  was  quiet." 

At  last  Sir  Kichard  Martin  said,  apparently  wearied 
with  this  rambling  conversation  :  "  Well,  good  people, 
I  wish  you  would  wisely  consider  these  things,  and 

1  Strype's  Parker,  241. 
VOL.  I.  40 


314  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

be  obedient  to  the  queen's  good  laws,  that  so  you 
may  live  quietly  and  have  liberty.  I  am  sorry  that 
you  are  troubled;  but  I  am  an  officer  under  my 
prince,  therefore  blame  not  me.  The  queen  hath  not 
established  these  garments  and  other  things,  for  the 
sake  of  any  holiness  in  them;  only  for  civil  order 
and  comeliness,  and  because  she  would  have  minis 
ters  known  from  other  men,  as  aldermen  are  known 
by  their  tippets,  judges  by  their  red  gowns,  and 
noblemen's  servants  by  their  liveries.  Therefore  ye 
will  do  well  to  take  heed  and  obey." 

"  Philip  Melancthon  hath  well  said,"  replied  Haw 
kins,  "  that  when  the  opinion  of  holiness,  or  of  merit, 
or  of  necessity,  is  put  to  things  in  themselves  indiffer 
ent,  they  ought  always  to  be  taken  away." 

"  But,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  these  things  are  not  com 
manded  as  necessary  in  the  Church." 

"  Say  you  so,  my  lord  ?  So  be  it.  But  the  com 
mandment  ma/ccth  them  necessary,  as  many  a  poor 
man  doth  feel." 

"  As  you  say,  my  lord,"  said  Nixson,  resuming  his 
dialogue  with  the  Lord  Mayor, — "as  you  say  that  the 
alderman  is  known  by  his  tippet,  even  so  have  Mass- 
priests  been  known  from  other  men  by  this  very 
apparel  which  you  command.  Thus  you  would  com 
pel  us  to  wear  that  which  meaneth  '  Mass-priest.' " 

"  What  a  great  matter  you  make  of  it !  "  said  the 
Dean  of  Westminster. 

"There  be  good  men  and  good  martyrs  that  did 
wear  these  things  in  King  Edward's  day,"  said  the 
Bishop.  "  Do  you  condemn  them,  Nixson  ?  " 

"  We  condemn  them  not.  However,  we  would  go 
on  to  a  more  perfect  way.  Nevertheless,  the  best  of 


CH.  XIL]  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  315 

them  who  maintained  the  habits  did  recant  for  it  at 
their  death ;  as  Ridley,  Bishop  of  London,  and  Dr. 
Taylor.  Ridley  did  acknowledge  his  fault  in  this 
thing  to  Dr.  Hooper;  and  when  the  Papists  would 
have  put  the  apparel  upon  him  in  order  to  strip  it 
off,  —  being  the  ceremony  of  deposing  him,  —  he  said 
the  dress  was  abominable." 

"  Many,"  interposed  Hawkins, "  were  burned  in  the 
time  of  Mary,  for  standing  against  Popery  as  we  do 


now." 


"  I  myself  have  said  Mass,"  observed  the  Bishop. 
"I  am  sorry  for  it." 

"Nevertheless,"  said  Ireland,  "your  lordship  still 
goeth  dressed  like  one  of  the  mass-priests." 

"  You  see  me  wear  cope  and  surplice  in  St.  Paul's. 
I  would  rather  minister  without  them,  only  for  the  sake 
of  order,  and  obedience  to  my  prince." 

After  other  conversation  had  followed,  the  Dean 
of  Westminster  said,  "  Do  we  hold  heresy  ?  Do  we 
deny  any  article  of  faith  ?  Do  we  maintain  purga 
tory,  or  pilgrimage  ?  No.*  We  hold  the  reformation 
that  was  in  King  Edward's  days." 

"  You  build  much  of  King  Edward's  time,"  replied 
White.  "  Yet,  though  it  was  the  best  time  of  refor 
mation  in  the  realm,  all  was  confined  to  one  prescript 
order  of  service,  patched  together  out  of  the  Popish 
matins,  even-song,  and  mass-book." 

"  And  they  of  that  time  never  made  a  law  such 
as  now  is,  that  none  should  preach  or  minister  without 
the  garments,"  added  Nixson.1 

1  "  This  godly  king,"  Edward  VL,  he  had  before  left,   excepting  the 

" set  forth  a  new  form  of  surplice  and  kneeling  at  the  Lord's 

prayers,  removed  and  prohibited  all  Supper,  baptizing  by   women  and 

the  monuments  of  superstition  which  demanding  of  infants  a  profession  of 


316  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

"  We  have  a  gracious  prince,  who  maketh  the  law/' 
said  the  Dean  of  Westminster. 

"May  God  preserve  her  Majesty  and  Council!" 
heartily  responded  the  prisoners.1 

These  parts  —  and  they  are  only  parts  —  of  a  con 
versation  so  singular  under  the  circumstances,  bring 
distinctly  to  view  some  important  points  both  of 
difference  and  of  agreement  between  the  Church 
Precisians  and  the  Non-conformists,  and  also  between 
the  Church  Precisians  and  this  new  school  of  Puri 
tans.  GrindaFs  position  is  clearly  defined,  —  in  pri 
vate  judgment  and  in  heart,  a  Puritan ;  in  civil  pol 
icy  and  loyal  obedience  only,  a  Precisian ;  charitable 
towards  those  who  scrupled  the  garments,  but  re 
volting  at  the  movement  of  separation.  As  clearly 
defined  is  the  position  of  the  offenders  ;  —  in  heart, 
loyal  and  conscientious;  and  claiming  their  rights  as 
"the  Lord's  freedmen,"  only  when  "driven"  to  the 
wall  by  religious  despotism. 

At  the  close  of  the  conference,  the  prisoners  were 
exhorted  to  forbear  their  religious  assemblies ;  but  it 
being  evident  to  the  Commissioners  that  they  would 
not  do  so,  they,  with  the  others  who  wrere  arrested 
with  them,  were  sent  to  the  Bridewell  prison,  "  at 
the  commandment  of  the  queen." 2 

faith.     What  he  retained,  however,  from  "  The   Remains   of  Grindal " 

was  left   so  free,  that  no  one  who  (Parker  Soc.),  pp.  201-216 ;  inter- 

objected    to  them  ivas  compelled    to  weaving  the  language  of  each,  and 

observe  them."  —  Zurich  Letters,  No.  some    slight    modifications    of  my 

CXXX. ;  Geo.  Withers  to  the  Elec-  own,  as  I  have    thought  necessary 

tor    Palatine.     (Strype's   Whitgift,  to    express   truthfully   and   clearly 

196,  "  Article  VI.")  the  opinions  uttered  upon  the  oc- 

1  I    derive   my    sketch    of    this  casion. 

"  examination  "  —  so  called  —  from        2  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.   p.  81.     Cam- 

Strype's  Grindal,  and  from  Brook,  den,    107.       Strype's   Parker,    243. 

Vol.    I.,   Article    "  Hawkins,"  and  Brook,  I.  151. 


CH.  XII.]  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  317 

Grindal,  who  respected  their  conscientiousness, 
strove  to  gain  them  to  his  views  of  "order  and 
obedience  to  the  prince."  Failing  in  this,  and  pitying 
their  sufferings,  he  interceded  for  them  with  Mr. 
Secretary  Cecil ;  urging  sagaciously,  that,  were  they 
freely  liberated  with  only  a  grave  admonition,  there 
would  be  more  reason  to  hope  for  their  compliance, 
than  by  persisting  in  the  severity  of  punishment. 
In  consequence  of  this  intercession,  the  Lords  of  the 
Council  sent  an  order  of  release,  dated  April  28th, 
1568,1  the  prisoners  being  warned,  however,  of  greater 
severity,  should  they  repeat  their  factious  and  dis 
orderly  behavior.2  Accordingly,  they  were  called  be 
fore  the  Bishop  on  the  3d  of  May,  and  discharged ; 
having  been  confined  ten  and  a  half  months.3 

That  a  few  scores  of  men  and  women  should  have 
associated  to  worship  God  apart  from  the  assem 
blies,  and  without  the  forms  established  by  law,  is 
in  itself  a  trifle  on  the  page  of  history.  As  an 
attempt  at  righteous  liberty,  it  was  a  seedling 
which  —  though  it  afterwards  grew  to  imposing 
stature  and  strength  —  was  sheared  down  at  the 
moment  of  its  appearing.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
noting  at  this  point  how  it  took  root  deeper  and 
better  for  the  operation,  or  anticipating  its  revival 
and  development,  it  is  well  to  consider  the  stimu 
lating  influences  to  which  it  owed  its  origin. 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  155.  twelvemonths";  and  on  pp.  154, 155, 

2  Ibid.  in  letters  then  written,  we  have  the 

3  Neal    says,      "  above   a    year,  date  of  the  Council's  Order,  April 
Brook,     "  two    years  ;    discharged  28th,  1568,  and  the  date  of  release 
April,    1569."     But  Strype,  in  his  May  3d,  1568. 

Life  of  Grindal,  p.  136,  says,  "about 


318  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

The  Puritans  —  particularly  the  more  strenuous, 
who  were  styled  by  way  of  distinction  "the  hot 
Puritans  "  —  were  stigmatized  as  foolishly  fastidious 
about  trifles.  The  grounds  on  which  they  retorted 
that  these  trifles  were  no  trifles,  have  been  shown 
in  our  sketch  of  Hooper's  argument,  and  onward, 
through  this  last  examination  of  the  offenders  of  the 
Plumbers'  Hall.  In  brief,  they  held,  that  the  sur 
plice  was  a  distinctive  badge  of  a  corrupt,  false,  idol 
atrous  Church ;  that  its  use  would  be  construed,  to 
their  soul's  hurt,  by  the  weak  and  vacillating,  as  a 
tacit  approval  of  her  errors;  that  kneeling  at  the 
sacrament  might  readily  be  taken  as  an  act  of  ado 
ration  implying  the  real  presence  and  sacrifice  of 
Christ's  body;  that  the  like  was  true  of  certain 
other  prescribed  ceremonies;  and  that,  therefore, 
these  things  —  trifles  in  themselves  —  became  ele 
vated,  by  their  associations  and  connections,  to  the 
rank  of  usages  grave  and  dangerous,  contrary  to 
the  standard  of  faith,  offensive  to  God,  and  as  in 
congruous  to  his  worship  as  any  of  the  rites  of  Pa 
ganism. 

With  the  mere  logic  of  this  reasoning  we  have 
now  nothing  to  do.  Leaving  its  analysis  to  school 
men  and  casuists,  let  us  consider  simply  whether  its 
conclusion  was,  or  was  not,  sustained  by  collateral 
facts. 

One  of  the  first  steps  taken  by  Elizabeth  after 
she  was  proclaimed  queen,  was  the  settling  of  the 
religion  of  the  state,  —  under  the  circumstances  a 
very  delicate  affair.  For  this  purpose,  she  consulted 
only  Sir  William  Cecil  and  Sir  Thomas  Smith ; l  by 

1  Lloyd,  562. 


CH.  XII.]  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  319 

whose  advice  she  selected  certain  divines,  whom  she 
charged  to  shape,  from  King  Edward's  Book  of  Com 
mon  Prayer,  a  Platform  of  Religion  to  be  submitted 
to  herself,  and,  "  having  her  approbation,  to  be  put 
into  the  Parliament."  The  work  was  to  be  done, 
not  according  to  their  Christian  judgment,  —  nor 
was  it,  —  but  according  to  her  Majesty's  mind.  That 
they  might  know  this  fully,  they  were  under  the 
constant  "direction"  of  Sir  William  Cecil,  her  con 
fidant  and  oracle  in  matters  of  state.  That  they 
might  construct  their  work  with  legal  accuracy,  Sir 
Thomas  Smith  was  associated  with  them,  being  a 
learned  doctor  of  the  civil  law.1  This  business  the 
queen  arranged  secretly,  without  the  advice,  or  even 
knowledge,  of  her  Privy  Council  •  and  the  result  was 
submitted  to  her  review  and  approbation,  some  time 
in  the  last  month  of  her  first  Parliament.2  Thus  the 
forms  of  the  Church  Establishment  were  entirely 
decided  upon  at  "the  dormant  council-table  of  her 
own  princely  breast  "  ;  and  adjusted  at  her  dictation, 
before  it  was  known  outside  of  Sir  Thomas's  house 
in  Chanon  Row  what  form  of  religion  would  be 
elected.  After  its  construction  by  the  divines,  the 
new  Liturgy  was,  indeed,  laid  before  three  or  four 
noblemen  for  their  perusal ;  but  this  was  only  "  to 
give  it  a  further  reputation."3 

It  has  been  already  stated,4  that  it  was  her  com 
mand  to  this  committee  to  conform  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  dogmas 
and  forms  of  Popery,  without  making  it  positively 

1  Strype's    Grindal,  22,23;  An-        3  Collier,  VI.  199, 200.    Camden, 
nals,  I.  75,  76,  119,  120.  16.     Strype's  Annals,  I.  76. 

2  Collier,  VI.  249.  *  Chap.  VIII. 


120 


THE  FIRST   SEPARATION. 


[On.  XII. 


Papistical.  This  was  mere  state  policy.  Her  com 
mand  was,  of  course,  obeyed  ;  and  the  Form  of 
Prayer  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments  —  be 
fore  culled  out  of  the  Popish  Mass-Book  —  was  made 
yet  more  "  passable  amongst  the  Papists." l  The  Act 
of  Uniformity  relapsed  also ;  ordaining  "  such  orna 
ments  of  the  Church  and  of  the  ministers  thereof 
as  were  by  authority  of  Parliament  in  the  second 
year  of  King  Edward  VI." 2  So  true  was  this  visible 
approximation  to  Popery,  that  Cecil  could  after 
wards  commend  the  divine  service  of  the  English 
Church  to  the  Eomish  judgment  of  the  French  am 
bassador,  for  its  nearness  to  that  of  his  own  Church. 
So  also  said  the  queen,  in  her  instructions  to  her 
own  ambassador  at  the  French  Court.3  Nor  was  this 


1  Strype's  Annals,   III.  293,  Ap 
pend.  Bk.  I.  No.  XIX.  .  Heyl.  Ref, 
283.     Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  I.  Sec.  16  ; 
Bk.  VI.  Sec.  12,  30. 

2  1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.  Sec.  XIII. 

3  The  documents  here  referred  to 
are  so  remarkable,  that  I  transcribe 
so  much  of  them  as  relates  to  the 
matter  in  the  text.     "  If  he  "  —  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  —  "  should  be   our 
husband,  he  should  accompany  us  to 
the  church ;  and  why  he  should  not 
or  may  not  use  our  manner  of  pray 
ers  and  divine  service,  certainly  we 
think  no  reason  can  be  yielded  by 
any  that  knoweth  the  same,  and 
will  compare  it  to  that  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  doth  use ;  for  in 
ours,  there  is  no  part  that  hath  not 
been,  yea,  that  is  not  at  this  day, 

used  in  the  Church  of  Rome, 

and  if  anything  be  more  in  ours,  the 
same  is  part  of  the  Holy  Scripture." 
—  The  Queen  to  Walsingham,  May, 
1571.     (Digges,  98.) 


"  Then  I  answered  "  (the  French 
Ambassador),  "  setting  out  the  near 
ness  of  ours "  (our  religious  ser 
vices)  "to  such  as  was  good  and 
sound  in  the  Roman ;  adding,  that 
we  omitted  nothing  but  those  which 
were  impious  and  doubtful  to  be 
against  the  Scripture."  —  Burleigh 
to  Walsingham,  May,  1571.  (Digges, 
100.) 

"  If  the  form  "  (the  English  form) 
"of  religion  were  considered  by 

them  "  (the  French  Court),  " 

it  should  be  found  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  same  contrary  to  the 
Roman  religion,  differing  only,  that 
the  same  is  translated  out  of  the 
Latin  tongue  into  the  English,  so  as 
whosoever  shall  use  the  same  ser 
vice  cannot  be  accounted  without 
religion,  nor  to  do  anything  repug 
nant  to  the  Roman  religion." — From 
"  A  Summary  of  Answers  made  by 
the  Queen's  Majesty  to  the  French 
Ambassador  and  Mr.  1'Archant  to 


CH.  XIL]  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  321 

all ;  for  so  great  was  the  likeness  of  the  two,  that  the 
old  Popish  priests  of  Queen  Mary  found  nothing  in 
the  divine  service  to  offend  their  scruples,  and  con 
tinued  still  to  retain  their  places  by  its  use,  saying 
that  to  do  so  "  was  not  a  thing  malwn  in  se  " ;  *  and 
at  this  very  time  the  Papists,  generally,  attended  the 
worship,  and  remained  in  the  communion,  of  the 
English  Church.2  Bonner's  sneer,  "If  they  sup  of 
our  broth,  they  will  soon  eat  of  our  beef,"  has  already 
been  cited.  Nor  was  the  sarcastic  taunt  of  another 
Papist  impertinent,  that (( the  English  drove  the  Pope 
out  of  England  so  hastily,  that  they  forced  him  to 
leave  his  garments  behind  him ;  and  now  they  put 
them  on,  and,  like  so  many  players  acting  their  parts,, 
they  dance  in  them  by  way  of  triumph."3  More 
over,  learned  English  Papists  have  justified  their 
own  Church  and  religion,  by  appealing  to  the  adop 
tion  of  their  ceremonies  by  the  English  Church ;  and 
hence  have  even  argued  that  Elizabeth  herself  was 
in  heart  a  Papist.4  But,  more  than  by  all  these 
things,  the  real  fitness  of  the  English  ritual  to  sus 
tain  the  heresies  and  superstitions  of  Popery  is 
proved  by  this  one  fact,  —  that  the  counsellors  of 
Pius  IV.  had  advised  him,  so  lately  as  in  1563  or 
1564,  to  confirm  the  English  Liturgy,  with  some  — 
probably  slight  —  alterations,  upon  the  single  condi 
tion  that  the  queen  should  acknowledge  its  Romish 
authority.5  And,  though  we  presume  this  was  known 

their  Message  and  Request."     (Dig-        3  Pierce,  50. 
ges,  113.)  *  Ibid. 

1  Butler,  I.  310.  5  Strype's  Annals,  II.  55. 

2  D'Ewes,  35.    The  Queen's  Dec-        Alike  proposal  was  reported  — 
laration   in   the    Star-Chamber    in  but  without  seeming  authority  —  to 
1570;  Strype's  Annals,  II.  371.  have  been  made  to  Elizabeth  by 

VOL.    I.  41 


322  THE  FIRST   SEPAKATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

at  the  time  only  to  the  queen  and  her  confidants,  it 
proves  just  as  truly  and  forcibly,  that  the  analogy 
between  the  externals  of  the  two  Churches  was  by 
no  means  imaginary. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  that  in  the  English 
Church  these  externals,  with  their  tendencies,  were 
sustained  and  enforced  by  authority,  under  circum 
stances  which  rendered  their  influence  peculiar,  and 
peculiarly  dangerous,  for  it  was  in  a  day  of  deplora 
ble  religious  ignorance;  —  when  the  mass  of  the 
people  might  be  easily  led  astray  ;  when  the  old, 
corrupt  religion  was  still  venerated  by  multitudes ; 
when  many  others  were  yet  halting  between  two 
opinions  ;  and  when  Popery  was  vigorously  and 
covertly  at  work  throughout  the  realm  to  recover 
the  English  Church  and  to  revolutionize  the  govern 
ment. 

In  the  alembic  of  the  day,  vapors  became  solids ; 
chaff,  poison  ;  stubble,  steel. 

Such  were  the  Puritan's  justifying  facts.  Collec 
tively,  they  verify  his  theoretic  scruples,  and  demon 
strate  the  soundness  of  his  objections.  They  show 
clearly  that  he  was  not  moved  to  remonstrance  and 
dissent  by  squeamish  conceits,  or  a  love  of  "  singu 
larity,"  but  by  an  intended,  real,  outward  similitude 
between  his  own  Church  and  that  of  Eome ;  a  simil 
itude  grateful,  because  complaisant  to  the  latter,  and 
tending  to  the  corruption  and  lapse  of  the  former; 
a  similitude  which  was  a  conniving  at  idolatry  and 

Pius  IV.  in  1560.     (Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  would  humble  himself  even  to  her- 

p.  69.)     Osborne,  in  his  Traditional  esy  itself,  in  regard  that  whatsoever 

Memoirs,  p.  35,  states  positively  that  was  done   to  gain  souls  to  Christ, 

this  offer  was  made.     Eehard  also  did  become  that  See."     (p.  797.) 
says  that  Pius  IV.  declared:  "He 


CH.  XII.] 


THE  FIRST   SEPARATION. 


323 


damnable  lies,  a  snare  to  the  weak,  an  offence  unto 
God.1  Such  facts  are  bone  and  flesh  and  thew  to  the 
first  argument  of  the  non-conforming  Puritan ;  and 
this,  crossed  by  the  plea  that,  "  Rome  being  renounced, 
her  symbols  became  indifferent,  and  therefore  by 
command  of  the  prince  obligatory,"  was  the  crossing 
of  the  sword  with  the  bulrush.  However  it  might 
satisfy  minds  less  perceptive  and  sensitive,  or  more 
tamely  feudal  than  his  own,  to  the  Puritan  it  was 
but  the  shadow  of  a  plea ;  and  stung  by  the  impli 
cation  of  disloyalty,  he  bounded  instinctively  for 
foothold  upon  the  outer  verge  of  Liberty,  and  re 
torted  with  his  second  argument,  —  that  royalty  over 
topping  the  Statute-Book  of  God,  was  royalty  no 
longer;  that  loyalty  may  refuse  to  follow,  but  be 


1  Perhaps  the  gravity  of  the  Puri 
tan  objections,  at  that  time,  to  the 
episcopal  vestments  and  ceremonies, 
cannot  be  more  succinctly  and  per 
tinently  expressed,  than  in  a  letter 
to  Parkhurst,  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
written  in  1571.  "  If  the  Turk  de 
cree  the  ceremonies  of  Moses  and 
the  attire  of  Aaron,  for  his  own 
ceremonies  and  attire,  they  would 
be  Moses'  and  Aaron's  still.  Then 
no  proclamation  or  law  can  dis 
possess  Antichrist,  the  Pope,  from  his 
ceremonies  and  attire.  What  were 
his  twenty  years  ago  will  be  his 
still,  though  a  thousand  proclama 
tions  command  the  contrary 

In  respect  of  the  use,  form,  fashion, 
and  end  whereunto  they  were  and 
are  appointed,  they  are  unlawful, 
proceeding  from  Antichrist.  What 
estimate  shall  the  servant  get  by 
wearing  the  badge  and  cognizance 
of  his  master's  deadly  foe  ?  "  — 


Strype's  Annals,  Appendix,  Bk.  I. 
No.  XU. 

So  also  reasoned  Zanchy,  in  a 
letter  to  the  queen,  in  1571.  «  Who 
would  endure  his  enemy's  coat  of 
arms  in  his  house,  and  especially  in 

the  most  honorable  place  ? 

Suppose  your  Most  Serene  Majesty 
were  to  issue  a  decree,  that  every 
Englishman  should  lay  aside  his  an 
cient  dress and  put  on  the 

Turkish   robe, who  would 

commend  such  a  decree  as  a  proper 
one  ?  Much  less  is  it  to  be  com 
mended  that  godly  bishops  be  re 
quired,"  &c.  —  Zurich  Letters,  No. 
CLVIII ;  —  an  elaborate  letter,  pre 
senting  clearly  and  with  great  force 
the  argument  against  the  vestiarian 
laws.  This  collection  of  letters 
abounds  in  strong  points  against  those 
laws,  made  by  different  divines  of 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  —  points 
too  numerous  even  for  reference. 


324  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

loyal  still ;  that  there  is  a  field  —  how  long  or  broad 
he  could  not  then  say  —  belonging  to  none  but  the 
Christian  man  and  Christ,  where  the  disciple  was, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  Five,  and  where  no  law 
even  of  the  mightiest  monarch  could  bind  him. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  Puritans'  refusal 
to  conform  had  its  foundation,  not  in  frivolous  or 
visionary  scruples,  but  in  substantial  reasons.  But 
the  omission  of  a  garment  or  of  a  ceremony  was  a 
breach  of  order,  an  ecclesiastical  offence,  for  which 
ecclesiastical  discipline  was  proper.  Thus,  in  the 
regular  course  of  things,  the  non-conformist  was  sub 
jected  to  a  second  repelling  and  impulsive  influence, — 
punishment ;  the  nature  and  tendency  of  which  are 
worth  a  moment's  reflection. 

That  every  Church  has  a  conventional  right  to 
establish  its  own  government,  to  frame  its  own  rules, 
to  fix  its  own  forms  of  worship,  and  to  discipline  its 
disorderly  members,  no  one  will  dispute.  If  an 
offender  will  not  be  reclaimed  by  remonstrance  or 
censure  to  a  regular  observance  of  its  laws,  he  may 
justly  be  disowned  and  excluded  from  the  brother 
hood.1  Thus,  strictly  speaking,  the  Puritan  clergy 

1  It  may  be  objected  here  —  and  one  a  member  of  the  English  Church, 

particularly  in  regard  to  the  laity  —  Her  "  conventional "  right  to  disci- 

that  the    Church   of  England,  be-  pline  the  ecclesiastical  offender  was 

cause  not  a  voluntary  association,  the  same  as  that  of  the  magistrate 

lacked   a  primary   element  of  the  to  punish  the  offender  against  the 

visible   Christian   Church;  that  its  state's  laws,  who  became  amenable 

members  became  such  by  natural  thereto  by  the    same   accident  of 

birth,  and  were  sworn  to  religious  birth.     To  act  out  the  convictions 

fealty   only  by   assumed  proxy, —  of  conscience  or  of   private  judg- 

godfathers    and    godmothers.     But  ment  in  matters  of  religion  was,  in 

gross  as  it  is  to  suppose  the  accident  the  vocabulary  of  the  day,  to  act 

of  birth  to  make  one  a  member  of  against  the  safety  of  her  Majesty's 

the   Church  of  Christ,  it  did  make  person   and  the  realm.     So  wrote 


CH.  X1L]  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  325 

who  would  not  conform  to  the  rules  of  worship  and 
to  the  dress  enjoined  by  the  Church  of  England, 
were,  according  to  all  ecclesiastical  usage,  justly  de 
barred  from  officiating  as  ministers  of  that  Church. 
By  her  prerogative,  the  queen  might  ordain  cere 
monies  at  will ;  and  though  she  should  have  ordained 
the  most  oppressive  and  even  absurd,  —  which  the 
minister  would  have  had  the  Christian  right  to  spurn, 
—  still  she  would  have  had  the  technical  right  to  de 
prive  him  of  his  office  and  of  his  living. 

But  she  went  further.  She  forbade  the  non-con 
forming  clergy  to  preach  the  Word  or  to  minister  the 
Sacraments  within  her  realm  at  all  If  they  did  so, 
she  fined  them,  —  imprisoned  them.  Had  she  a 
right  to  do  this  ?  According  to  Christ  and  common 
humanity,  no.  According  to  the  Statute,  yes.  It 
was  so  nominated  in  the  bond.  Not  only  was  con 
formity  a  condition  of  office  and  of  its  revenue,  but 
the  non-conformist  was  at  issue  with  the  crown. 
Legally,  he  was  a  criminal.  Legal  justice  —  we  do 
not  say,  just  law  —  deposed  him  from  all  Christian 
ministry  in  the  Established  Church,  —  and  the  law 
knew  no  other,  —  and  adjudged  him  to  the  pains  of 
mulct  and  a  prison.  For  him,  the  crown  had  no  grace. 
He  must  undo  his  convictions,  or  violate  an  enlight 
ened  conscience,  or  suffer  as  it  was  written  by  the 
law.  The  crown  demanded  the  former.  He  chose 
the  latter.  The  crown  was  justified  by  the  law  of 
the  realm ;  the  culprit,  by  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

At  the  outset,  her  Majesty  might  easily  have  com 
posed  the  differences  between  the  Establishment  and 

the  Lords  of  the  Council  to  Bishop  erata  Curiosa,  Vol.  I.  Bk.  III.  No. 
Chaderton,  May  28,  1581.  (Desid-  XXXI.) 


326  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [On.  XII. 

the  Puritans,1  by  yielding  what  even  the  most  rigid 
Churchmen  granted  to  be  unimportant;  for  they 
who  refused  the  ecclesiastical  habits  required,  were 
willing  to  wear  such  as  would  distinguish  them  from 
the  laity,  —  one  reason  given  for  the  canonical  gar 
ments,  —  if  they  might  only  6(  keep  clear  from  the 
robe  of  Antichrist." 2  But  the  moment  she  put  for 
ward  the  letter  and  authority  of  the  law,  she  so 
entangled  her  prerogative  with  caps  and  copes,  con 
sciences  and  common  sense,  that  she  must  either 
yield  to  its  dishonor,  or  do  battle  in  its  defence. 

There  is  a  spot  in  every  human  heart  which  flinches 
from  the  touch  of  authority ;  and  no  one  is  fit  to 
govern  who  does  not  ware  it.  "  Shall "  and  "  shall 
not,"  wake  up  "  will  not "  and  "  will " ;  and  the  latter 
go  to  asleep  again  —  if  at  all  —  only  when  good 
sense  and  humanity  justify  the  commandment. 
Hence,  if  a  law  be  not  thus  justified;  if,  too,  it  be 
burdensome  or  annoying  to  the  subject ;  and  if,  more 
than  all,  it  be  based  only  and  avowedly  upon  the 
whim  and  will  of  the  prince,  —  it  would  be  passing 
strange  if  resistance  and  disobedience  should  not 
follow.  Nay,  the  surest  and  stoutest  resistance  will 
be,  not  from  the  sycophantic,  the  timid,  the  little- 
minded,  the  obtuse,  but  from  the  upright,  the  manly, 
the  clear-sighted ;  and  if  the  requisitions  of  the  law 
be  puerile  and  frivolous,  as  well  as  burdensome  and 
annoying,  so  much  the  more  —  not  so  much  the  less 
—  will  they  battle  it.  In  such  a  quarrel,  preciseness 
and  littleness  pertain,  not  to  him  who  resents,  but  to 
him  who  commands.  And  when,  superadded  to  all 

1  Murdin,    262;    The    Dean    of        2  Stiype's  Parker,  157;  Whitting- 
York  to  Burleigh.   Neal,  1. 104, 105.     ham  to  Leicester. 


CH.  XII.J  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  327 

this,  some  great  principle  is  involved,  —  as  that  of 
conscience  or  religious  liberty,  —  the  more  protracted 
and  desperate  will  be  the  struggle;  for  both  are 
strong,  but  the  prince  is  weaker  than  the  subject. 
It  was  so  in  this  case.  The  strife  was  long  and 
terrible  ;  yet  Uniformity  was  never  established. 

The  compulsory  policy  of  the  queen  wrought  its 
natural  effects.  Nervously  jealous  for  "the  chiefest 
flower  in  her  garden,  the  head  pearl  in  her  diadem," l 
which  she  had  compromised  for  the  sake  of  "  trifles," 
—  against  the  wishes  of  her  prelates  and  the  judg 
ment  of  her  counsellors,2  —  she  invoked  Severity  to 
sustain  Supremacy.  She  drave  men  to  the  wall  who 
had  never  dreamed  of  resisting  the  will  of  their 
sovereign,  and  thus  forced  them  to  ask  in  amaze 
ment,  "Is  this  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  maketh 
free?"  Thus,  also,  she  forced  them  to  ask,  "Where 
beginneth  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel,  and  where 
endeth  the  authority  of  the  prince  ? "  a  question  of 
whose  greatness  and  bearing  they  had  then  no  con 
ception,  and  the  last,  in  policy,  which  she  should 
have  stirred.  A  petulant,  imperious  woman  smote 
the  flint  upon  the  tempered  steel,  and  the  first  spark 
of  Liberty  was  stricken  out.  For  present  purposes, 
it  gave  light  enough  to  the  bewildered  inquirers. 
They  saw  the  sovereign  overstepping  the  bounds  of 
sovereignty  and  refused  obedience.  Here  a  part  of 
them  halted,  and  submitted  meekly  to  punishment, 
though  not  to  conformity ;  while  others,  bolder  and 
more  sturdy,  advanced  another  step,  revolted  from 
the  school  of  discipline  to  which  they  were  sub 
jected,  and  parted  from  the  communion  in  which 

1  D'Ewes,  547.  2  Zurich  Letters,  pp.  263,  264. 


328  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

they  had  been  reared.  Despotism  defeated  itself. 
In  seeking  to  coerce  unity,  Elizabeth  compelled  Sep 
aration.  For  this  were  meted  out  greater  severities. 
Yet  neither  did  these  exceed  the  power  claimed  by 
the  crown,  however  much,  at  any  time,  beyond  the 
punishment  prescribed  by  statute,  and  however  re 
pugnant  to  sound  policy. 

It  is  said  by  an  historian,  that  the  queen's  threat,  in 
her  letter  to  the  Commissioners  about  the  Separatists, 
(i  was  a  vast  stretch  of  the  prerogative,  there  being 
no  law,  as  yet,  to  disfranchise  a  man  for  not  coming 
to  church." ]  But  the  royal  prerogative  of  ordaining 
rites  and  ceremonies  not  ordained  by  statute,2  im 
plied  the  prerogative  of  punishing  as  not  ordained  by 
statute.3  So  the  queen  understood  it ;  and  so  under 
standing  it,  she  delegated  to  her  Commissioners  this 
discretionary  power  of  punishing,  together  with  the 
other  executive  powers  of  her  supremacy.  By  the 
very  letter  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  to  say  noth 
ing  of  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  her  ecclesiastical  law- 
making  power  was  vastness  itself,  —  of  which  expan 
sion  cannot  be  predicated,  —  for  that  power  had  not 
even  nominal  check  or  limit  save  "  the  advice  of  her 
Commissioners,  or  of  her  metropolitan  " ;  and  neither 
Commissioner  nor  metropolitan  —  Grindal  excepted 
—  had  any  rule  of  "advice"  but  her  Majesty's  will.4 

1  Neal,  I.  108.  rogative  in  general,  especially  the 

2  1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.  Sec.  XIII.  Supremacy,  was  supposed  in   that 

3  Blackstone,  IV.  122,  123.  age  "  —  Elizabeth's  —  "  to   involve 

4  Naunton,  (in  the  Phoenix,)  184.  powers  which  no  law,  precedent,  or 
Macaulay  says  truly,  (Vol.  I.  p.  reason  could  limit  and  determine." 

27,)  that  "  the  king  could  not  legis-  But    the   supremacy   of   Elizabeth 

late  without  the  consent  of  his  Par-  was  not  "  supposed,"  but  knoivn,  to 

liament" ;  and  Hume  observes,  (Vol.  involve  indeterminate  powers.    Nor 

III.  Chap.  XLI.  p.  127,)  that  "Pre-  was  her  law-making  prerogative  in 


CH.  XII.]  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  329 

But  law-making  power  is  a  myth  without  the  power 
to  enforce  by  punishment.  Therefore  the  power  by 
which,  through  her  commissioners,  she  would  dis 
franchise  or  imprison,  irrespective  of  statute  penalty, 
she  continued  to  exercise ;  and  it  was  formally  de 
clared  by  the  highest  legal  authority  that  the  power 
to  imprison  for  not  coming  to  church  —  a  penalty  not 
in  the  law  — —  was  contained  in  the  Act  of  Supremacy, 
when,  thirteen  years  afterwards,  it  seems  to  have 
been  questioned.1  Supremacy,  like  perfection  and 
infinity,  does  not  admit  of  degrees.  It  cannot  be 
"stretched,"  either  in  making  law  by  mere  procla 
mation,  or  in  punishing  at  will,  —  both  of  which 
Elizabeth  was  accustomed  to  do. 

We  have  thus  noticed  the  remark  just  quoted  as 


ecclesiastical   matters   supposed    to  on  which  occasion  "  the  Judges  of 

inhere  to  the  crown,  as  though  she  the    realm    and    divers    civilians " 

could  legislate  therein  "  without  the  gave  the  following  opinion, 
consent    of   her    Parliament."      It        "  By  statute  anno  primo  of  Eliz- 

was   specially   donated  by  the  Act  abeth,  Commissioners  of  ecclesiasti- 

of    Supremacy,    and    it    was    only  cal  causes  have  authority  to  inflict 

as  a  donation  that  she  claimed  it.  any  punishment,  by  mulct  or  other- 

(Strype's  Whitgift,  260.)   The  same  wise,  which  the   ecclesiastical   law 

Parliament    (Cap  II.    Sec.   XIII.)  allows ;  because  all  ecclesiastical  ju- 

liad  "  consented,"   in    advance,   to  risdiction   and  authority  is  by  the 

any  injunction  or  injunctions  which  same  statute  annexed  to  the  crown  ; 

she  might  issue  with  the  advice  of  and,  by  the  same,  full  power  given 

her  Commissioners  or  metropolitan  ;  her  Majesty  to  commit  the  same  to 

thus  forearming   any  transcript  of  such  persons  as  shall  please  her."  — 

her  will  with  the  full  sanction  and  Desid.  Curiosa,  Vol.  I.  Bk.  III.  No. 

force    of   positive   law.      This   was  XIII. 

very  definite  limitlessness, — around  This  opinion  was  particularly  in- 
which  no  other  law,  no  precedent,  tended  —  as  will  be  seen  by  con- 
no  reason,  could  draw  a  line.  suiting  the  preceding  paper,  No. 
1  In  1580,  an  exposition  was  re-  XII.  —  to  sanction  and  justify  im- 
quired  of  the  punitive  powers  of  2)risonment;  pecuniary  punishment, 
the  Queen's  Commissioners;  par-  which  only  the  statute  prescribed, 
ticularly  with  reference  to  those  having  proved  ineffectual, 
who  refused  to  come  to  church.  Up- 

VOL.   I.  42 


330  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [Cn.  XII. 

though  it  were  proper  in  its  application  to  the  case 
in  hand.  But  it  is  not.  True,  disfranchisement  was 
not  the  described  penalty  for  the  offence  committed. 
It  is  also  true,  that  the  punishment  inflicted  had  no 
more  reference  than  disfranchisement  to  the  statute 
penalty.  But  neither  threat  nor  punishment  was 
for  "not  coming  to  church."  They  were  for  using 
forms  of  religious  worship  and  ordinances  "other 
than  set  forth  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer." l 

We  have  seen  that  but  a  part  of  the  non-conform 
ists  separated  from  the  communion  and  worship  of 
the  Church,  and  have  said  that  these  were  the  bolder 
and  more  sturdy.  In  justice  to  both  these  parties, 
and  indeed  in  justice  to  Elizabeth,  this  difference  of 
behavior  requires  further  notice. 

It  is  perhaps  impossible  for  us  at  this  day,  and  in 
a  country  where  for  generations  no  relation  has  been 
recognized  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  to 
understand  with  what  profound  veneration  that  rela 
tion —  or  rather,  identity  —  was  regarded  in  the 
times  of  which  we  write.  For  ages,  it  had  been 
held  as  an  axiom,  that  the  magistrate  was  the  cus 
todian,  or  defender,  of  the  Church ;  that  the  author 
ity  of  each  was  interwoven ;  that  it  was  a  part  of 

1  This     was     the    first     offence  Uniformity,   which  prescribed    im- 

charged    upon   this    party,  of   de-  prisonment  for  a  year. 
serting   their    parish  churches   and        The  lay  offenders,  by  the  same 

adopting  other  than  the  established  act  (Sec.  III.),  should  have  been 

religious  forms ;   that  is,  their  first  sentenced  only  to  a  fine  of  one  hun- 

arraignment  for  conventicle  worship,  dred  marks ;  or,  in  default  thereof, 

The    clerf/ymen    had    previously  to  imprisonment  for  six  months, 
been  deprived  for  non-conformity.        The  respondents,  however,  were 
Therefore  —  being  "  not  beneficed "  not    sentenced    upon    the    statute, 
—  they  were  obnoxious  to  the  last  but  upon  the  queen's  special  corn- 
clause  of  Sec.  II.  of  the   Act  of  mandment. 


CH.  XII. J  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  331 

his  office  to  enforce  her  laws,  so  that  the  subject 
who  varied  from  these  came  into  collision  with  the 
authority  of  the  prince.  Nor  did  an  ecclesiastical 
irregularity  cease  to  be  a  civil  offence  when  Henry 
revolted  from  Home ;  for  he  had  taken  care  to  sever 
also  the  ecclesiastical  establishment  of  his  realm, 
and  to  make  the  sovereign  of  the  State  sovereign 
also  of  the  Church.  There  was  only  this  difference : 
whereas  before  the  Crown  was  subordinate  to  the 
Church,  now  the  Church  was  subordinate  to  the 
Crown;  and  thus  an  ecclesiastical  irregularity  was 
not  only  an  offence  against  the  Church  and  the 
State,  but  became  a  double  offence  against  the  sin 
gle  person  of  the  prince. 

The  old  idea  of  the  unity  of  the  Church  —  the 
whole  Church  Militant  under  one  organization  and 
a  visible  head  —  was  still  in  a  modified  sense  an 
article  of  Protestant  orthodoxy.  The  unity  itself 
had  been  destroyed  by  the  Keformation.  But  an 
attempt  had  been  made  to  gather  the  scattered  frag 
ments  of  Protestantism  within  a  common  fold,  under 
a  common  discipline  and  common  forms  of  worship. 
The  scheme,  though  it  failed,  was  still  in  process  of 
negotiation,1  and  the  idea  was  still  held  tenaciously 

1  About  1560,  Calvin  wrote  to  it  into  consideration,  and  desired  his 
Archbishop  Parker  proposing  a  un-  Grace  to  thank  Calvin,  and  to  let 
ion  of  all  Protestants,  and  that  her  him  know  that  they  liked  his  pro- 
Majesty  should  summon  a  General  posals.  But  they  directed  him  fur- 
Assembly  of  such  wherever  dis-  ther  to  state,  that  the  Church  of 
persed  ;  by  which  Assembly  a  form  England  would  still  retain  her  epis- 
and  method  of  public  service  and  copacy,  not  as  from  Pope  Gregory 
Church  government  might  be  es-  who  sent  over  Augustin  the  monk, 
tablished  among  all  the  Reformed  but  from  Joseph  of  Arimathea ;  as 
Churches  in  England  and  elsewhere,  appeared  by  Gildas,  printed  first  in 
Parker  laid  this  communication  be-  1525,  and  so  far  agreeing  to  Eleu- 
fore  the  Queen's  Council  who  took  therius,  sometime  Bishop  of  Rome, 


332  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  [Ce.  XII. 

as  a  doctrine,  —  practically  and  of  necessity,  however, 
narrowed  down  to  the  limits  of  each  state,  and  in 
subjection  to  each  magistracy.  This  unity  was  yet 
considered  so  sacred  that,  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
Protestant  world,  communion  and  worship  separate 
from  those  established  by  the  state  had  very  much 
the  aspect  both  of  a  sacrilegious  innovation  and  a 
civil  revolt,  —  the  more,  if  there  were  no  serious 
differences  of  faith. 

Hence  it  was  that  Grindal,  Bishop  of  London, 
Pilkington,  Bishop  of  Durham,  Edward  Deering, 
chaplain  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  one  of  the 
heads  of  the  Puritans,1  and  others,  conformed  in  the 
use  of  things  to  which  they  were  religiously  averse. 
Hence  it  was,  that  Coverdale  and  Lever,  Humphrey, 
Sampson,  Fox,  Whittingham,  Whitehead,  and  others, 
men  of  sterling  worth  and  strong  minds,  while  re 
fusing  the  imposition  of  "  linen  and  woollen,  black 
and  white,  round  and  square,"  did  so  "  with  grief" ; 
comforting  themselves,  however,  with  the  thought, 
"that  it  was  but  an  agreeing  discord,  seeing  they 
all,  under  Christ  their  Captain,  professed  the  same 
Gospel  and  the  same  faith."2  Hence  it  was,  that, 
while  they  could  justify  the  omission  of  a  rite  by  the 
plea  of  conscience,  —  for  it  was  a  negative  fault,  and 
at  worst  but  a  peccadillo,  —  they  shrunk  from  eccle 
siastical  separation.  Hence  it  was,  that,  being  just 


who  acknowledged  Lucius,  King  of  this  Council  Queen  Elizabeth  sent 

Britain,  Christ's  vicar  within  his  own  her    ambassador.     But,    as    might 

dominions.     (Strype's  Parker,  G9.)  have  been  foreseen,  no  result  was 

This  design  was  continued  at  least  obtained.     (Strype's    Annals,    IV. 

so  long  as  1577,  when  a  Council  was  103.) 

assembled   at  Frankfort    to   devise  1  Strype's  Parker,  380. 

means  to  carry  it  into  effect.     To  2  Ibid.,  163. 


CH.  Xn.J  THE  FIRST   SEPARATION.  333 

now  confirmed  in  their  aversion  to  such  a  measure 
by  the  counsels  of  Bullinger,  and  of  Beza,  chief  min 
ister  of  the  church  at  Zurich,1  they  not  only  clave 
to  the  communion  and  worship  of  the  Established 
Church,2  but  would  neither  preach  nor  pray  with 
those  who  did  not.3  Hence  it  was,  that,  while  Grindal 
"  went  tenderly  "  about  his  official  work  of  bringing 
peaceable  non-conformists  to  compliance,  "was  not 
forward  to  use  extremities," 4  "  would  not  run  of  him 
self,  nay,  would  hardly  answer  the  spur,  in  pressing 
conformity,"5  he  yet  "thought  himself  bound"  to 
use  the  severer  measures  of  the  law  upon  those  who 
brake  from  the  Church ; 6  that  Pilkington,  though  he 
would  have  relinquished  his  bishopric  rather  than 
have  exercised  in  his  own  diocese  the  severities 
against  mere  non-conformists,  was  himself  a  strict 
Churchman ; 7  that  Parkhurst,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  so 
willing  to  allow  liberty  to  the  non-conformists  as  to 
incur  the  rebuke  of  his  metropolitan,8  was  yet  so 
stout  an  advocate  of  Church  usages  as  also  to  incur 
the  public  rebuke  of  the  Puritans.9  Hence  also  it 
was,  that  in  a  few  years  there  sprang  up  bitter  con 
troversy  and  upbraiding  between  the  non-conformists 
who  remained  in  the  Church,  and  the  non-conform 
ists  who  separated.10 

1  Strype's  Parker,  229, 243;  Grin-         5  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  81. 

dal,    105.     Heyl.    Presb.,   Bk.    VI.  6  Strype's  Grindal,  295,  302. 

Sec.  29,  37.  "  Zurich  Letters,   pp.    2G2,    264. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  243;  Grindal,  Strype's  Parker,  219.     Neal,  I.  100. 
114.  8  Strype's  Annals,  III.  509,  510. 

3  Strype's  Parker,  243.     Collier,  9  Ibid.,  and  Append.,  Bk.  I.  No. 
VI.  443-445.     See  above,  p.  311.  XII. 

Grindal    to    White,    and   Hawkins         10  Strype's   Whitgift,    41G ;    Ayl- 
to  Grindal.  mer,    112.      Hanbury,   I.    34,   49- 

4  Strype's  Grindal,  97,  105.  61. 


334  THE  FIRST  SEPARATION.  [Ce.  XII. 

But  while  we  should  well  weigh  the  restraining 
and  depressing  influences  of  old  traditions  and  hoary 
usages,  that  we  may  do  justice  alike  to  those  Puritans 
who  halted  short  of  non-conformity,  and  to  those 
who  would  neither  conform  nor  cross  the  threshold 
of  separation,  we  must  keep  the  same  influences  in 
view  in  order  to  appreciate  the  larger  conceptions, 
stronger  convictions,  steadier  principle,  and  greater 
daring,  by  dint  of  which  alone  the  separating  Puri 
tans  —  struggling  with  their  affection  for  their  mother 
Church,  and  with  loyalty  untainted  —  could  break 
from  so  potent  a  thraldom,  to  exalt  the  supremacy 
of  the  Bible  above  the  supremacy  of  the  prince. 

Here,  too,  —  in  the  figment  of  ecclesiastical  unity, 
and  in  the  blending  of  Church  and  State,  —  is  to 
be  found  the  only  apology  for  the  queen's  severity 
towards  non-conforming  Protestants;  for  non-con 
formity  had  the  legal  complexion  of  disloyalty,  and 
separation  that  of  schism  and  revolt.  And  yet  the 
apology  is  merely  technical,  because  the  Statute  of 
Uniformity  was  but  a  transcript  of  her  will;  and 
with  her  sufferance,  in  her  very  metropolis,  there 
were  separate  communions  of  Protestants  who  held 
no  manner  of  conformity  to  the  Liturgy  established 
by  law.1 

1  French,     Dutch,    and     Italian  very  discipline  and  worship  -which 

Protestant    refugees    were    consti-  the  Puritans  desired.     In  the  next 

tutcd  into  distinct  ecclesiastical  es-  year  they  numbered  no  less  than 

tablishments,  by   permission  of  the  five   thousand   in   London   and  its 

government,  under  the  Genevan  dis-  suburbs.     (Heylin's  Presb.,  Bk.  VI. 

cipline  and  forms  of  worship, —  the  Sec.  19.     Strype's  Annals,  II.  2G9.) 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


THE  PAPALINS. 


THE  POPE  GRANTS  DISPENSATIONS  TO  PREACH  HERESY.  —  PAPIST  PRIESTS  TURN 
PURITAN  PREACHERS.  —  THE  PAPAL  COUNCIL  ADVISE  THE  ASSIGNMENT  OP 
THE  ENGLISH  CROWN,  A  PREMIUM  FOR  THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  ELIZABETH, 
AND  A  MORE  EXTENSIVE  LICENSE  FOR  HYPOCRISY  AND  PERJURY.  —  BULL 
AGAINST  HERETICS  GENERALLY.  —  A  NEW  IRRUPTION  OF  DISGUISED  PRIESTS. 
-  ONE  OF  THEM  EXECUTED.  —  TlIE  CATHOLICS  BEGIN  TO  SECEDE.  —  THE 
HOLY  LEAGUE  FOR  THE  EXTERMINATION  OF  PROTESTANTS.  —  SEMINARIES 
FOR  MISSIONARY  PRIESTS.  —  A  DOMICILIARY  VISIT  TO  JOHN  STOW,  THE  AN 
NALIST. —  FUNERAL  OF  COVERDALE.  —  FUNERAL  OF  BONNER.  —  MARY,  QUEEN 
OF  SCOTS,  IMPRISONED  IN  ENGLAND.  —  TlIE  NORTHERN  INSURRECTION.  —  TlIE 
PAPAL  BULL  OF  EXCOMMUNICATION  AGAINST  ELIZABETH. 

V 

1560-1570. 


THE  Church  of  England  had  become  fixed.  After 
sliding  back  a  grade  or  two  whence  Edward  had 
advanced  her,  she  had  assumed  completeness  and 
abjured  progression.  Not  so  the  Puritans.  Doubting 
that  they  had  "  already  attained,  either  were  already 
perfect/'  they  were  yet  struggling  against  the  meshes 
of  superstition  and  tradition,  and  pressing  towards 
the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  maketh  free. 

But,  as  the  sword  which  was  drawn  against  Non 
conformity  was  two-handed  and  two-edged,  smiting 
on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  —  in  this  direction 
the  Puritan,  in  that  the  Papist,  —  it  will  hardly  be 
possible  to  trace  the  farther  advance  of  Protestant 
Dissenters  without  noting  the  parallel  experience  of 
the  Papal.  We  therefore  enter  somewhat  freely 


336  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIIL 

upon  the  contemporary  history  of  the  English  Ro 
manists  ;  and  shall  sometimes  pause  over  a  writhing 
Catholic  by  the  wayside,  partly  that  our  account 
of  the  Puritans  may  be  the  more  lucid,  and  partly 
that  we  may  more  truly  gage  the  havoc  which  per 
tains  by  natural  consequence  to  the  union  of  Church 
and  State. 

The  project  of  Calvin  for  bringing  all  Protestant 
Churches  under  a  common  form  of  worship  and 
government,  which  he  had  propounded  to  the  Eng 
lish  cabinet  in  1560,1  had  pestered  the  Eoman  Pon 
tiff.  The  bruit  of  it  had  soon  reached  the  wakeful 
ears  of  Pius  IV., — just  then  seated  in  the  Papal 
chair,  —  who  instantly  devised  a  scheme  to  balk  the 
purpose  of  his  Genevan  adversary.  This  scheme 
was  a  wise  one ;  to  sow  dissension  among  the  several 
Protestant  communions,  thus  to  confound  their  coun 
sels  and  forestall  their  concert.2  For  this  purpose 
dispensations  were  granted  to  certain  Franciscans, 
Dominicans,  and  Jesuits,  to  put  on  the  mask  of  her 
esy,  and  go  forth  among  the  heretics.  It  was  their 
special  errand,  to  preach  any  doctrines  contrary  to 
those  of  the  See  of  St.  Peter,  and  alike  contrary  to 
those  prevailing  where  they  might  chance  to  be. 
If  among  Lutherans,  they  were  to  preach  the  doc 
trines  of  Calvin;  if  among  Calvinists,  the  doctrines 
of  Luther ;  if  in  England,  the  doctrines  of  the  Ana 
baptists,  of  Huss,  of  Luther,  of  Calvin,  —  in  short, 
any  Protestant  doctrines,  however  wild,  which  would 
distract  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  seduce  them 
from  the  established  communion.  The  better  to 
disguise  themselves,  and  the  better  to  avert  suspicion 

1  See  ante,  p.  331,  note.  2  Strype's  Parker,  70. 


CH.  XIIL]  THE  PAPALINS.  337 

in  this  latter  field,  they  were  also  allowed  to  take  the 
oaths  required  by  law,  and  to  take  wives ;  it  being 
shrewdly  argued,  that,  its  English  form  being  heret 
ical,  the  marriage  was  no  marriage,  but,  being  in 
tended  for  the  good  of  the  Church,  a  venial  concu 
binage  only,  and  no  violation  of  the  priestly  vow  of 
celibacy.1 

This  plan  of  operations  was  approved  by  the  Coun 
cil  of  Trent,  who  immediately  sent  out  corresponding 
directions,  particularly  to  the  Jesuits  in  Paris.2  Upon 
the  granting  of  these  dispensations,  several  priests, 
some  of  them  foreigners,  and  some  of  them  English 
refugees,  entered  upon  the  mission,  came  to  England, 
and  went  about  in  Puritan  guise,  to  excite  odium 
against  the  Established  Church.3 

In  1563,  it  had  been  recommended  by  the  Pope's 
counsellors,  in  case  Elizabeth  should  not  accede  to 
terms  of  compromise  with  the  Papal  See,4  that  her 
realm  should  be  offered  by  his  Holiness  to  any 
crowned  head  who  would  undertake  its  conquest; 
that  a  pardon  should  be  granted  to  any  cook,  brewer, 
vintner,  physician,  grocer,  chirurgeon,  or  any  other, 
who  would  make  way  with  the  queen  of  England, 
together  with  an  absolute  remission  of  sins,  a  perpet 
ual  annuity,  and  a  seat  in  the  Privy  Council  of  her 
successor,  to  the  heirs  of  the  assassin;  that  priests 
of  any  Romish  orders  should  be  licensed  to  take  such 
oaths  as  might  be  required  of  them  in  England,  they 

1  Strype's  Annals,  I.  341.  3  Strype's  Annals,  I.   342 ;  Par- 

2  The  Council  of  Trent  was  the    ker,  244.     Collier,  VI.  463.     Carte, 
twentieth  and  last  General  Council    III.  495. 

of  the  Church.    It  was  convened        4  See    Chap.   XII.  p.   321,  and 
by  Paul  III.  in  1545,  and  continued,    note  5. 
by  twenty-five  sessions,  till  1563. 
VOL.  i.  43 


338  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

making  a  mental  reservation  to  serve  the  Church  of 
Rome  whenever  opportunity  should  occur ;  and  that 
all  parties  of  the  Romish  faith  should  be  dispensed 
with  to  swear  to  all  heresies  in  England  or  elsewhere, 
—  such  oaths  being  taken  with  intent  to  advance  the 
Mother  Church.  Other  particulars  of  minor  impor 
tance  were  comprised  in  the  advice  of  the  Papal 
Council;  all  of  which  had  been  reported  to  Sir 
William  Cecil  in  April,  1564,  by  Dennum,  one  of  his 
spies  in  Italy.1 

On  the  10th  of  May,  1566,  the  new  Pope,  Pius  V., 
issued  a  bull  of  anathema  against  heretics  generally, 
and  directed  his  ecclesiastics  everywhere  to  contrive 
aU  manner  of  devices  to  confound  them.  This  bull 
was  intended,  and  understood,  to  be  only  a  public 
confirmation  of  the  measures  which  had  been  previ 
ously  initiated  by  Pius  IV.  and  the  Council  of  Trent. 
Upon  its  publication,  fresh  volunteer  priests  were 
enrolled,  and  licensed,  under  its  authority,  to  pursue 
such  secular  callings  in  England  as  each  might  fancy 
for  a  screen  to  his  ecclesiastical  character  and  min 
istrations.2 

As  the  result  of  the  several  measures  above  re 
cited,  priests  were  skulking  in  disguise  through  every 

1  Strype's  Annals,  II.  54-57.  pauses  over  it  will  recognize  a  neg- 

Lingard   (VII.    318,   note)  says:  ative  admission  of  the  fact.     With 

"  This  was  sent  from  Venice  by  one  such  a  besom,  how  clean  of  atrocity 

Dennum,  who  had  gone  to  Italy  as  a  could  the  annals  of  human  nature 

spy,  and  pretended  that  he  had  pro-  be  made  to  seem ! 

cured  the  information  by  bribery.  Hallam  (p.   75,   note)    says   that 

The   absurdity  of  the  tale  can  be  the    adoption    of   such    resolutions 

equalled  only  by  the  credulity  of  against    Elizabeth   in   a   consistory 

those  who  believe  it."     A  facile  and  held  by  Pius  IV.  "  is  unlikely,  and 

summary  way  of  disposing   of  an  little    in    that    Pope's    character." 

unpleasant  record,  and  unworthy  of  But  *  a  Pope  's  a  Pope  for  a'  that.' 

a  grave  historian.     The  reader  who  2  Strype's  Annals,  II.  218-220. 


Cn.  XIIL]  THE  PAPALINS.  330 

county  in  England ;  sometimes  officiating  at  Mass  by 
night  in  private  houses,  and  sometimes  playing  the 
part  of  Protestant  preachers  in  public.1  Auxiliary 
hereto,  English  Catholics  abroad  published  various 
books  against  the  queen  and  her  government,  which 
they  sent  over  for  dispersion  by  their  agents  at 
home.2 

The  Queen's  Council  were  neither  ignorant  of 
these  matters,  nor  asleep.  A  royal  proclamation 
ordered  the  dispersers  of  these  "  dangerous  books  "  to 
be  sought  out  and  punished ;  and  many  priests  and 
lay  Papists  had  been  detected  at  secret  Mass  and 
committed  to  prison.3  One  of  the  priests  who  had 
been  moved  by  the  late  bull  to  come  into  England 
was  William  Blagrave,  who  operated  in  York,  in  the 
character  of  a  Puritan  preacher.4  Some  slip  of  the 
tongue,  or  some  awkwardness  in  his  heretical  voca 
tion,  exciting  suspicion  that  he  was  other  than  he 
professed,  he  was  apprehended;  and  divers  papers 
called  "  treasonable "  being  found  in  his  possession, 
he  was  condemned  to  die  by  the  hangman  on  the 
10th  of  May,  1566.  When  ascending  the  ladder,  he 
paused,  and  said  to  the  Archbishop  of  York  with  a 
sneer :  "  By  the  rood,  my  lord !  the  bands  of  your 
apostate  Church  be  no  more  potent  than  a  tow- 
thread,  an  a  tongue  so  unapt  as  mine  doth  suffice  for 
their  breaking  !  I  have  drawn  away  your  silly  sheep 
to  herd  with  the  basest  sort ;  and  they  whom  I  have 
converted  into  Puritans  will  hate  your  Liturgy  as 
much  as  you  hate  Rome." 

1  Hallam,  78.  66.     Strype's  Annals,  I.  295,  545, 

3  Strype's  Annals,  II.  192,  530.         546. 

3  Haynes,  395.    Strype's  Grindal,        *  Strype's  Parker,  70. 


340  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

"  Prithee ! "  returned  his  Grace,  "  who  be  these 
silly  sheep?" 

"Nay,  nay;  find  you  them,  my  lord,  an  you  be 
able.  I  be  no  betrayer  of  my  penitents.  Albeit, 
they  will  yet  return  to  the  bosom  of  Holy  Church." 

Then,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  turning  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  he  was  swung  off.  Thus  died  the 
Pope's  protomartyr  under  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.1 

Hitherto,  the  English  Catholics  had  prudently 
avoided  giving  offence.  Whenever  they  had  held 
divine  worship  after  their  own  forms,  they  had  done 
so  with  due  precaution  of  secrecy.  Most  of  them, 
considering  that  "  there  was  nothing  in  the  service 
of  the  English  Church  which  was  repugnant  to  that 
of  Home,"  2  and  that  "  the  Common  Prayer  contained 
no  positive  heterodoxy," 3  had  attended,  with  decent 
regularity  at  least,  upon  the  prayers,  sermons,  and 
sacraments  at  their  parish  churches.4  But  now,  in 
the  years  1567  and  1568,  they  began  to  show  symp 
toms  of  disaffection.  In  Lancashire,  they  proceeded 
to  open  contempt  of  the  religious  order  enjoined, 
utterly  laying  aside  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  the  established  service,  and  freely  celebrating 
Mass.  So  extensive  was  this  defection,  that  the 
churches  were  deserted  and  shut  up;5  and  emis 
saries  of  the  Pope,  whom  he  had  specially  licensed 
to  exercise  episcopal  jurisdiction  in  England,6  were 
absolving  lapsed  penitents,  and  "reconciling  them 
from  obedience  to  the  queen."7  There  were  also 

1  Strype's   Annals,   I.    342,   343.  5  Strype's  Annals,  II.  253. 
Collier,  VI.  463.     Carte,  HI.  495.  6  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  81.     Heyl. 

2  Digges,  113.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  31. 

3  Butler,  I.  310.  7  Burleigh  to  Faunt ;  Birch,  JL  94. 

4  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  30,  "  A  man  was  said  to  be  reconciled, 
31.     Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  97.  who,  after  he  had  gone  to  the  new 


CH.  XIIL]  THE  PAPALINS.  341 

secret  and  mysterious  gatherings  of  the  Catholics, 
which  boded  disturbance,  if  not  rebellion.  So  alarm 
ing  were  these  symptoms,  that,  in  some  parts  of  his 
diocese,  the  Bishop  of  Chester  dared  not  show  his 
person.  The  Court  were  disturbed,  and  sent  down 
a  commission  to  examine  and  purge  the  country. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  acts,  so  flagrant  in  the 
eyes  of  the  queen,  and  so  defiant  of  her  authority, 
the  commissioners  were  so  lenient  that  the  Catho 
lics  escaped  by  simply  acknowledging  their  offences 
against  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  and  promising  to  obey 
the  laws,1  —  a  lenity  in  strong  contrast  to  the  pun 
ishment  for  the  same  transgression  meted  by  royal 
order  to  the  Protestant  offenders  of  the  Hall  of  the 
Plumbers.  The  latter  were  few  and  weak  and  friend 
less, — severity  might  crush  them  at  once.  The  Cath 
olics  were  many,  and  had  powerful  foreign  friends  on 
the  move  already  against  the  Church  and  the  Crown  of 
England;  friends  whom  lenity  might  soothe  and  keep 
at  bay,  whom  harshness  might  provoke  and  stir  to 
action.  Puritan  principles  "  tended  to  a  popularity."  2 
Despotism  was  the  very  core  of  the  Catholic  faith. 
Thus,  state  policy  dictated  this  different  treatment, 
—  a  policy  and  a  difference  distinctly  traceable 
throughout  Elizabeth's  reign. 

We  say  that  the  English  Catholics  had  foreign 
friends  astir  against  the  Church  and  Crown  of  Eng 
land.  These  had  already  put  on  the  harness,  and  were 
ready  at  any  fit  moment  to  throw  down  the  gaunt- 

service,   returned    to   the    Catholic  to  the  queen,  they  never  gave  abso- 

worship  and  received  absolution." —  lution." 

Lingard,  VIII.  77,  note.  x  Strype's  Annals,  II.  253,  260. 

Burleigh's  words  were,  "  without  2  Strype's    Parker,    [447]    false 

reconciling    them   from    obedience  page. 


342 


THE   PAPALINS. 


[Cn.  XIII. 


let.  The  principal  Catholic  princes  —  the  Pope 
(Pius  V.),  the  Emperor,  the  king  of  Spain,  and  some 
smaller  princes  —  had  secretly  bound  themselves  in 
league,  by  solemn  oath,1  to  extirpate  the  Protestant 
religion  throughout  the  world.  This  league,  which 
had  its  origin  in  the  Council  of  Trent,2  and  was 
devised  by  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,3  seems  to  have 
been  consummated  about  the  year  1564.4  Its  prin 
cipal  articles  of  agreement,  which  were  quickly  re 
ported  at  Whitehall  by  English  spies,  were,  that  all 
Lutheran,  Calvinist,  and  Huguenot  princes  should  be 
"  rooted  out,"  and  their  crowns  given  to  those  whom 


1  Harlcian  Miscellany,  I.  1GO. 

2  Life  of  Hatton,457. 
8  Melvil,  12G. 

4  Strype  says,  (Annals,  II.  243,) 
that  in  1567  "the  chiefest  Popish 
potentates  entered  into  a  secret  com 
bination  to  destroy  the  reformed 
religion  utterly."  But,  from  what 
he  says  on  the  next  page  about  the 
French  king,  he  seems  to  mean,  that 
in  1567  the  league  had  its  comple 
ment  of  parties  filled  ;  imply  ing  that 
it  existed  before. 

I  have  assigned  its  formation  to 

1 564,  because  Sir  Christopher  Hat- 
ton  (see  "  Life  and  Times  of  Hat- 
ton,"  p.  457)  declared  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  February  22d,  1586-7, 
that  it  was  projected  in  the  Council 
of  Trent,  and  because  Randolph,  in 
a  letter  to  Cecil  dated  February, 
1565-G,  speaks  of  it  as  having  been 
then  "  lately  devised,"  and  as  hav 
ing  been  entered  into  by  "  the  late 
Pope,"  (see  Wright,  I.    219,)  who 
was  Pius  IV.     Now  Pius  IV.  died 
in   the    previous   year,   December, 

1565,  and   the    Council    of  Trent 
was  dissolved  in  1563.     The  league 


must,  therefore,  have  been  made 
between  the  dissolution  of  the  Coun 
cil  and  the  death  of  the  Pope,  most 
probably  within  a  year  after  the 
former  event,  —  a  time  sufficient 
for  the  necessary  diplomatic  nego 
tiations. 

Was  there  any  suck  league  ? 

Catharine,  the  queen  mother  of 
France,  met  her  daughter,  Isabella, 
queen  of  Spain,  at  Bayonne,  in 
1565.  The  Duke  of  Alva  was  in 
attendance.  Lingard  says  (VIII. 
64,  and  note),  that  "  the  Protestant 
leaders  in  France  believed,  or  af 
fected  to  believe,  that  at  this  inter 
view  a  league  had  been  formed  for 
the  extirpation,  first  of  the  Protes 
tants  in  France,  and  then  of  the 
Protestants  in  other  countries  " ;  and 
considers  the  falsehood  of  it  settled, 
because  Von  Raumer  in  his  pub 
lished  researches  respecting  the  con 
ferences  at  Bayonne  has  not  a  pas 
sage  corroborative  of  such  a  league ! 

But  that  "dark  and  sanguinary 
councils "  of  some  kind  were  then 
held,  is  evident  from  the  testimony 
of  the  young  Prince  of  Navarre, 


CH.  XIII.  1 


THE  PAPALINS. 


343 


the  leaguers  might  elect  to  the  same ;  and  that  all 
"  well-wishers  and  assisters  "  of  Protestantism  should 
be  "  displaced,  banished,  and  condemned  to  death." l 
Late  events  had  already  begun  to  indicate  that  the 
Papal  party  of  Europe  were  to  find  their  centre  of 
power  in  Philip  of  Spain,  and  the  Protestant  party 
theirs  in  Elizabeth  of  England.2  Consequently,  it 
was  considered  of  great  importance  by  the  Popish 
confederates,  —  and  in  a  few  years  it  became  the 
grand  object  to  which  they  bent  all  their  counsels, 
and  for  which  they  strained  every  sinew  of  their 
power,  —  to  undermine  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil 


who  was  present,  and  communicated 
what  he  heard  to  the  President  de 
Calignon,  from  whose  memoir  we 
derive  it.  (See  Life  of  Henry  IV. 
by  G.  P.  R.  James,  Vol.  I.  Bk.  HI. 
p.  217.  New  York,  1847.) 

I  also  submit  the  following.  In 
reference  to  the  Emperor  Ferdi 
nand  I.,  Philip,  and  the  Pope,  Cecil 
received  a  letter,  to  which  no  name 
is  appended,  from  Brussels,  dated 
February  5,  1559-GO,  and  contain 
ing  this  passage  :  "  The  Emperor 
hath  received  great  demonstrations 

of  amity  at  the  Pope's  hands 

The  Emperor's  Puissance  and  the 
King  Catholic's  —  as  all  men  here 
account  —  are  like  to  be  much  ad 
vanced  by  means  of  this  Pope.  I 
could  wish  and  trust  it  is  considered 
what  their  straighter  amity  doth 
imparte,"  —  sic  ;  qu.  "  import  "  ?  — 
"  which  may  be  unto  us  a  pillow  in 
utramquc  aurem  dormire."  (Haynes, 
237.) 

Mr.  Hallam  does  not  give  credit 
to  the  league,  "  as  printed  by 
Strype."  (Ilallam,  87,  note.)  It 
will  be  perceived,  however,  that  I 


rely  not  at  all  upon  any  transac 
tions,  real  or  supposed,  at  Bayonne  ; 
but  upon  the  statements  of  Hatton 
and  of  Randolph,  whose  letter  to 
Cecil  was  written  before  the  meet 
ing  at  Bayonne.  Beal,  also,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Queen's  Council, 
refers  "  the  conjuration  to  root  out 
all  such  as,  contrary  to  the  Pope's 
traditions,  make  profession  of  the 
Gospel,"  only  to  "  the  Council  of 
Trent."  (Strype's  Parker,  357.) 

It  may  be  asked,  and  perhaps  not 
impertinently,  do  not  the  massacre 
of  1572,  the  atrocities  in  the  Low 
Countries,  the  plot  of  "the  Pope, 
Philip,  and  the  French  king,"  to 
co-operate  with  the  Earls  in  Eng 
land,  the  purpose  of  the  queen's 
murder,  &c.  revealed  by  the  Em 
peror's  ambassador  to  Montague, 
and  other  like  things  afterwards,  — 
do  not  all  these  wonderfully  coin 
cide  with  the  supposition  of  such  a 
league  V  Compare  Hume,  III.  19, 
27. 

1  Strype's  Annals,  H.  244.     Life 
of  Hatton,  4  7. 

2  Butler,  I.  341. 


344  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIIL 

establishments  of  the  English  queen,  she  being  reck 
oned  the  great  champion  and  "  chiefest  protectrix " 
of  Protestantism.1 

While  Cecil  had  his  spies  abroad,  through  whom 
he  received  constant  intelligence  of  Catholic  devices,2 
Pius  V.,  since  he  could  not  have  his  apostolical  nun 
cio  in  England,  employed  a  secret  agent.  Full  of 
zeal  for  recovering  the  realm  to  the  Roman  See, 
and,  as  a  necessary  means,  for  dethroning  Eliza 
beth,  he  secured  the  services  of  Ridolpho,  a  Flor 
entine  merchant  and  banker,  who  had  resided  in 
London  since  1554.3  It  was  this  man's  commission 
from  the  Pope,  "  to  animate  men's  minds  to  work  the 
destruction  of  the  queen  " ;  in  other  words,  to  u  sow 
sedition"  in  England,  and  particularly  among  the 
Papists.  He  acted  not  only  under  the  direction  of 
the  Pope,  but  of  the  other  confederates  also,4  who 
placed  large  moneys  in  his  hands  for  the  further 
ing  of  their  designs.  He  was  a  faithful,  very  busy, 
and  very  effective  agent;  and  was  commended  to 
the  Queen  of  Scots  by  special  letters  from  his  Ho 
liness.5 

Thus  the  foreign  conspiracy  —  known  to  the  Eng 
lish  Court,  and,  unquestionably,  to  the  English  Cath 
olics  through  the  Italian  banker  —  emboldened  the 
Lancashireans  in  1567  to  the  open  practice  of  their 

1  Life  of  Hatton,  47  ;  Davison  to  posed  to  have  been  the  better  im- 
Hatton.  formed. 

2  Lloyd,  475.  4  Lodge,  II.  53. 

3  Strype   says   that  he  came   to  5  Hieronymo  Catena,  in  Camden, 
England  about  the  year  1566  ;  Lin-  179.     Strype's  Annals,  II.  220,  and 
gard,  that  he    had   lived  in  Lon-  Life  of  Parker,  264.    Haynes,  466 ; 
don  fifteen  years  previous  to  1569.  Norris  to  Cecil.    Camden,  118, 154. 
In    regard  to  such  a  matter,  the  Wright,   I.    392,    note.      Lingard, 
Catholic    historian    may    be    sup-  VIII.  44,  note. 


CH.  XIII.]  THE  PAPALINS.  345 

illegal  worship,  and  at  the  same  time  softened  the 
measures  of  the  government  for  their  correction. 
It  well  became  Elizabeth,  with  foes  crouching  all 
around  her,  to  deport  herself  warily ;  and  it  was 
well,  too,  that  at  this  crisis  she  had  counsellors  of 
consummate  wisdom  by  her  side,  to  rein  her  imperi 
ous  pride  and  moderate  the  execution  of  law.  The 
lesser  punishment,  in  1568,  of  a  case  like  that  of 
Blagrave  in  1566,  also  shows  how  the  action  of  the 
government  was  modified  by  the  present  attitude 
of  the  Catholic  princes.  Thomas  Heath,  a  Jesuit, 
and  brother  to  the  Archbishop  of  York  and  High 
Chancellor  of  England,  who  announced  to  Parliament 
the  death  of  Mary  and  the  accession  of  Elizabeth, 
had  itinerated  in  the  kingdom  during  the  last  six 
years  in  the  character  of  a  Puritan  minister.1  He 
preached  his  last  sermon,  however,  in  the  pulpit  of 
the  Dean  of  Rochester,  where  he  accidentally  dropped 
a  letter,  which  was  found  by  the  sexton,  and  which 
betrayed  him.  The  bishop  of  the  diocese,  Guest, 
immediately  brought  the  pseudo-Puritan  to  examina 
tion  and  confession;  for  rosaries,  Popish  books  and 
papers,  a  license  from  the  Jesuits,  a  bull  from  Pius 
V.  for  preaching  whatever  doctrines  the  Society  of 

1  Some    historians    of   the   time,  deed,  "  combined  with  the  Puritans " 

when  speaking  of  the  Papists  under  against  the  Establishment ;  but  noth- 

guise  of  Puritans,  allow  themselves  ing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth, 

in  the  use  of  language  which  may  than   that  the    Puritans   combined 

convey  to  an  unwatchful  reader  the  with  the   Papists,  for  between  no 

idea  that  there  were  sympathy  and  two  religious  sects  was  there  then, 

collusion  in  those  days  between  the  nor  to  this  day  has  there  ever  been, 

two;   as  though  the  Puritans  were  a  greater  antipathy.     Under  Eliz- 

willing  to  connive  at,  and  abet,  these  abeth,  the  Puritans  were   at  least 

masked  Papists,  for  the  sake  of  the  as  forward  as  the  rigid  Churchmen 

mischief  they  might  do  to  the  Estab-  to   enact   severe   laws   against  thB 

lished  Church.     "  The  Papists,"  in-  Papists. 

VOL.    I.  44 


346  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

Jesus  might  appoint  for  confounding  and  dividing 
the  Protestants,  —  all  found  in  his  possession,  —  be 
sides  the  letter,  which  contained  directions  from  a 
Spanish  Jesuit  for  the  prosecution  of  his  insidious 
mission,  were  proofs  of  his  real  character  and  business 
which  it  was  in  vain  to  gainsay.  Unlike  Blagrave, 
he  was  spared  from  the  gallows,  but,  to  expiate  his 
offence,  was  placed  in  the  pillory  at  Rochester  during 
three  days  in  November,  1568,  had  his  ears  cut  off, 
his  nose  slit,  his  forehead  branded  with  the  letter  R, 
and  was  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment.  He 
died,  however,  within  a  few  months.1 

Another  Catholic  movement  this  year  betokened 
a  vigorous  and  radical  determination  to  sap  the 
foundations  of  the  English  commonwealth,  and  ex 
cited  anew  the  jealousy  and  apprehension  of  the 
government.  The  old  priests  who  had  remained  at 
home  were  fast  dropping  into  the  grave ;  and  al 
though  others  who  had  fled  abroad  returned  for  the 
clandestine  exercise  of  their  priesthood,  yet  they 
were  but  few,  and  were  alike  passing  away.  The 
rising  generation  of  English  Catholics  could  neither 
receive  at  home  a  theological  education  in  their  own 
faith,  nor  ordination  from  Catholic  bishops.  Thus 
it  was  certain  that,  if  no  remedy  were  found,  the 
English  Catholic  priesthood  would  soon  become  ex 
tinct,  and  their  laity  destitute  of  the  rites  of  their 
own  religion.  To  provide  this  remedy,  William 
Allen,  an  Englishman  and  a  Romish  priest,  —  after 
wards  Cardinal  Allen,  —  devised  the  planting  of  a 
college  at  Douay  in  Flanders,  —  that  place  being 

1  Stiype's  Annals,  II.  272,  273.     Carte,  III.  496.     Collier,  VI.  464. 


CH.  XIIL]  THE  PAPALINS.  347 

selected  for  its  nearness  to  England,1  —  where  Eng 
lish-born  youth  might  be  educated,  and  ordained 
as  missionaries  to  their  native  land.  His  plan  being 
approved,  and  funds  being  provided,  he  opened  his 
seminary  this  year,  1568,  "with  six  companions."2 
In  a  few  years,  the  establishment  consisted  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  professors  and  students.8  Though 
they  were  driven  awhile  to  Rheims  in  1576,  so  well 
did  the  school  prosper,  that,  between  the  years  1575 
and  1580,  Dr.  Allen  sent  one  hundred  of  his  pupils 
on  the  English  mission,  and  in  the  next  five  years 
a  greater  number.4  Other  colleges,  for  the  same  mis 
sionary  purpose,  were  afterwards  established  in  sev 
eral  other  cities  on  the  Continent.5  Upon  entering 
these  schools,  the  pupils  were  required  to  take  the 
following  oath :  — 

"I  —  A.  B.  —  considering  how  great  benefits  God 
hath  bestowed  on  me,  but  then  especially  when  he 
brought  me  out  of  mine  own  country,  so  much 
infected  with  heresy,  and  made  me  a  member  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  as  also  desiring,  with  a  thankful 
heart,  to  improve  so  great  a  mercy  of  God,  have 
resolved  to  offer  myself  wholly  up  to  Divine  service, 
as  much  as  I  may  to  fulfil  the  end  for  which  this 
our  College  was  founded.  I  promise,  therefore,  and 
swear,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  that  I  am 
prepared  from  mine  heart,  with  the  assistance  of 
Divine  grace,  in  due  time  to  receive  Holy  Orders, 
and  to  return  into  England,  to  convert  the  souls  of 
my  countrymen  and  kindred,  when,  and  as  often,  as 

1  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  31.  3  Butler,  I.  314. 

2  Fuller,   Bk.   IX.  p.  84.      Lin-  4  Ibid.,  316. 
gard,   VIII.    149,    150.     Butler,   I.  6  Ibid.,  334,  336. 
310,  313.     Camden,  244,  245. 


348  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cii.  XIII. 

it  shall  seem  good  to  the  superior  of  this  College  to 
command  me."  * 

The  statement  above  made  concerning  the  purpose 
for  which  these  seminaries  were  founded  is  undoubt 
edly  truth,  but  not  the  whole  truth.  There  was  a 
deeper  purpose,  which,  it  cannot  be  doubted,2  Allen 
cherished  at  the  beginning  of  his  enterprise.  To 
recover  by  a  religious  mission  the  heretical  Church 
of  England,  was  to  undermine  the  throne  of  the 
heretical  queen ;  and  it  is  preposterous  to  suppose 
that  this  was  not  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  missionary 
crusade.  But  we  are  not  left  to  inference  or  con 
jecture.  Years  after,  when  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
was  in  her  bloody  tomb,  the  Cardinal  d'Ossat,  an 
eminent  statesman,  said,  in  a  letter  to  Henry  IV.  of 
France :  "  For  this  purpose  were  the  colleges  and 
seminaries  erected  by  the  Spaniards  for  the  English 
at  Douay  and  St.  Omer's,  wherein  the  young  gentle 
men  of  the  best  families  in  England  are  entertained, 
for  the  purpose  of  winning  their  favor,  and  that  of 
their  parents,  kindred,  and  friends.  The  principal 
care  which  these  colleges  and  seminaries  have,  is  to 
catechise  and  educate  these  young  gentlemen  in 
the  full  faith  and  firm  belief  that  the  late  king  of 
Spain  had,  and  that  his  children  now  have,  the  true 
right  of  succession  to  the  crown  of  England,  and 
that  this  is  expedient  not  only  for  the  realm  of 
England,  but  for  every  place  in  which  true  Christian 
ity  is  established.  And  when  these  young  gentle 
men  have  finished  their  classical  studies,  and  have 

1  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  92,  refers  to        2  Taylor's    Romantic   Biography, 
Sanders.       Collier,    VI.    470,   471.     II.  142,  151. 
Strype's  Whitgift,  89. 


CH.  XIII.]  THE  PAPALINS.  349 

reached  an  age  when  they  may  be  made  thorough 
Spaniards,  they  are  carried  out  of  the  Netherlands 
into  Spain  to  other  colleges,  where  they  are  instruct 
ed  in  philosophy  and  divinity,  and  confirmed  in  the 
same  holy  faith  that  the  kingdom  of  England  did  of 
right  belong  to  the  king  of  Spain,  and  does  now 
belong  to  his  children.  And  after  that  these  young 
gentlemen  have  finished  their  courses,  such  of  them 
as  are  found  to  be  most  Hispaniolized,  and  most 
courageous  and  firm  in  their  adherence  to  this 
Spanish  creed,  are  sent  into  England  to  sow  this  faith 
among  their  countrymen,  and  to  be  spies.  They 
regularly  send  information  to  the  Spaniards  of  what 
is  doing  in  England,  and  what  must  and  ought  to  be 
done  to  bring  England  under  the  dominion  of  Spain. 
And  they  are  ready,  if  need  be,  to  undergo  martyr 
dom  as  soon,  or  rather  sooner,  for  this  Spanish  faith, 
than  for  the  Catholic  religion." 1 

True  indeed  it  is,  that  all  antagonism  in  the 
Douay  school  to  the  sovereignty  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
was  carefully  covered,  in  1568,  under  the  cloak  of 
unmixed  religion  and  care  for  souls ;  but  the  saga 
cious  statesmen  who  managed  the  English  helm 
easily  looked  through  the  pretensions  of  pious  zeal, 
and,  if  they  did  not  at  first  unravel  the  subtle  and 
deadly  plot  against  the  peace  and  stability  of  the 
realm,  saw  at  a  glance  the  bearing  of  Catholic  pros- 
elytism  upon  the  affairs  of  state. 

In  these  times  of  secret  plots  and  secret  missions, 

1  Taylor,  II.  149.     Strype's  An-     mationof  1591.     Compare  Camden, 
nals,  V.  58,  Queen's  Proclamation  in     482,  483. 
1581 ;  and  VII.  79,  Queen's  Procla- 


350  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

when  not  only  the  Privy  Council  and  the  Queen's 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  but  the  common  people, 
Churchmen  and  Puritans  alike,  were  on  the  watch 
for  lurking  Papalins,  there  was  an  odd  sort  of 
man  in  London  whose  name  is  well  known  even  in 
this  day  by  the  students  of  Elizabethan  history. 
He  was  a  quiet  man,  chiefly  anxious,  as  are  all  true 
men,  that  it  might  be  written  of  him  in  heaven,  if 
not  on  earth,  "He  fulfilled  his  course."  He  was  a 
tailor,  plying  his  task  with  some  diligence  and  due 
skill ;  "  odd,"  because,  being  a  tailor,  he  was  a  book 
worm,  busying  himself  as  much  or  more  with  the 
musty  records  of  generations  dead,  as  with  the  gay 
apparel  of  the  generation  living ;  "  quiet,"  for,  al 
though  a  few  times  he  was  the  occasion  of  some 
commotion  in  the  state,  it  was  not  his  fault.  Nor 
was  it  now  his  fault  that  her  Majesty's  Privy  Council, 
and  her  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  and  my  Lord 
of  Canterbury,  and  my  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  and 
some  lesser  folks,  were  all  agog  about  him.  On  the 
21st  of  February,  1568-9,  there  happened  a  lull  of 
business  in  his  shop,  of  which  he  took  advantage 
to  exchange  the  counting-room  for  the  study,  and 
shears  for  books.  The  study  was  a  curiosity-shop; 
for,  besides  poring  over  old  books,  the  good  man 
had  a  passion  for  natural  history,  botany,  anatomy, 
surgery,  pharmacy,  and  (I  ween)  a  leaning  to  astrol 
ogy  and  alchemy.  There  were  skulls  and  cross- 
bones  fixed  upon  the  wall ;  there  was  the  stuffed 
skin  of  a  snake  hanging  beside  them ;  there  were 
queer  reptiles  drowned  in  vials  of  aqua-vitse, 
bunches  of  dried  grasses  and  herbs,  and  a  regiment 
of  bugs,  beetles,  butterflies,  and  dragon-flies.  On  the 


Cu.  X1IL]  THE  PAPALINS.  351 

opposite  side  of  the  room  was  a  large  Oaken  press 
filled  with  books,  old  and  young;  some  printed, 
folded,  and  bound,  some  in  manuscript  rolls  of 
parchment  or  paper.  Here  were  pestle  and  mortar  ; 
there,  a  pair  of  small  scales ;  in  a  corner,  a  crucible ; 
and  on  a  table,  a  parchment  scroll,  with  pen,  ink, 
and  paper.  The  master  of  the  premises  was  in  the 
act  of  impaling  a  beetle  in  his  jacket  of  purple  and 
gold,  when  he  was  startled  by  a  stealthy  step  at  the 
door,  which  was  instantly  and  rudely  thrust  open. 
He  turned  pale ;  the  Philistines  were  upon  him. 
Foremost  stood  a  stranger  wearing  the  queen's 
badge ;  and  behind  him,  two  men  in  square  caps 
and  side-gowns,  and  a  fourth,  in  the  robe  of  a  clerk, 
with  inkhom  and  tablets. 

"  John  Stow  ?  "  inquired  the  pursuivant. 

There  was  a  choking  sensation  in  the  tailor's 
throat,  and  he  could  return  only  a  timorous  gesture, 
which  said,  being  interpreted,  —  "John  Stow,  cul 
prit." 

"  Queen's  warrant ! "  said  the  other,  drawing  a 
paper  from  his  doublet.  "  Odd  zooks !  my  masters," 
as  he  moved  aside  for  their  entrance,  "  I  make  no 
marvel  ye  be  in  suspect.  A  Papalin  !  A  Papalin  ! " 

John  Stow,  culprit,  was  a  little  comforted  when,  as 
the  clergymen  passed  the  pursuivant,  who  stood  sen 
tinel  in  the  doorway,  he  recognized  Doctor  Wattes, 
Archdeacon  of  London  and  a  chaplain  of  Bishop 
Grindal,  and  Master  Williams,  a  divine  of  the  city. 
The  other,  whom  he  did  not  know,  was  Bedle,  clerk 
of  the  Queen's  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners. 

"  Goodman  Stow,"  said  the  Archdeacon,  with  some 
courtesy  but  more  solemnity,  "  it  hath  been  bruited 


352  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

to  the  Lords  of  the  Council  that  you  heed  not  the 
Queen's  Majesty's  proclamation  touching  such  books 
as  be  dangerous  to  her  and  her  government.  We 
are  commanded  to  make  search  here,  and  seize  all 
such  traitorous  books  that  may  be  found.  Master 
Bedle,  we  will  proceed." 

It  were  tedious  to  narrate  the  proceeding.  It  is 
enough  to  state  that  the  sanctuary  of  John  Stow 
was  effectually  rummaged;  that  by  some  things 
they  saw,  the  gentlemen  were  puzzled;  of  some, 
ludicrously  shy ;  and  at  some,  they  solemnly  shook 
their  heads  for  having  such  a  black-art  look.  But 
books  were  the  great  object  of  their  inquisition.  In 
vain  did  the  tailor  tell  them  that  he  was  making  a 
chronicle  of  the  historical  antiquities  of  London  and 
England ;  that  there  were  his  rough  manuscripts  on 
the  table ;  that  the  printed  books  and  written  rolls 
were  his  authorities,  his  raw  materials ;  that  he  had 
never  had,  and  never  should  have,  anything  to  do 
with  treason;  that  he  was  working  purely  for  the 
good  of  posterity,  &c.,  &c.  They  shook  their  heads 
again,  and  said,  they  knew  that  he  pretended  so; 
and  asked  him  significantly,  "What  this  book  and 
that  book  —  as  full  of  Papistry  as  an  egg  of  meat, 
just  printed  over  the  sea,  too  —  had  to  do  with  the 
historical  antiquities  of  England,  or  the  good  of 
posterity  ?  "  And  when  he  said  that  "  Papistry  had 
much  concerned  generations  past,  and  would  concern 
those  to  come,  and  that  new-printed  books  had  old 
stories,  —  as  his  would  have  if  they  would  only  let 
him  finish  and  print  it,"  —  they  only  pursed  up  their 
lips  and  looked  solemn  again.  "  There  was  Papistry 
enough  there,  that  was  certain." 


CH.  XIII.]  THE  PAPALINS.  353 

Mr.  Strype  says,  that  they  not  only  took  a  large 
inventory,  but  perused  all  his  books  the  same  day " ; 
which  last  may  be  doubted,  for  at  this  time  "his 
library  abounded  with  books/'  and  had  of  "  unlawful " 
ones  no  less  than  forty.1  At  least,  the  report  which 
they  made  to  the  Bishop  of  London  was  dated  on 
the  24th,  —  not  till  three  days  after.  In  this  report, 
they  said,  that  "  the  man  had  a  great  sort  of  foolish, 
fabulous  books  of  old  print,  and  great  parcel  of  old 
written  English  chronicles,  both  in  parchment  and  in 
paper,  some  long,  some  short  5  that  he  had  besides, 
as  it  were  miscellanea  of  divers  sorts,  both  touching 
physic,  surgery,  and  herbs,  with  medicines  of  ex 
perience  :  also  old  fantastical  Popish  books,  printed 
in  the  old  time,  with  many  such,  all  written  in  old 
English,  in  parchment;  that  these  they  omitted 
making  any  inventory  of;  but  that  of  another  sort 
they  did,  viz.  of  such  books  as  had  been  lately  set 
forth  in  the  realm,  or  beyond  sea,  in  defence  of 
Papistry,  with  a  note  of  some  of  his  own  devices  and 
writings  touching  such  matter  as  he  had  gathered 
for  chronicles,  whereabout  he  seemed  to  them  to 
have  bestowed  much  travail.  His  books,"  they  said, 
in  conclusion,  "  declared  him  to  be  a  great  Fautor  of 
Papistry." 2 

What  was  done  with  this  great  Fautor  of  Papistry, 
or  with  his  "  foolish  books,"  does  not  appear ;  but  it 
is  certain  that  he  and  they  were  spared  from  execu 
tion;  else  "The  Annals  of  England,"  and  "The 
Survey  of  London,"  would  never  have  been  given 
to  posterity.  Probably  the  Chancellors  of  the 

1  Strype's  Grindal,  Append.,  Bk.  I.  No.  XVII. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  124,  125. 


VOL.  I. 


354 


THE  PAPALINS. 


[Cii.  XIII. 


Universities  —  Cecil  and  Leicester  —  understood  bet 
ter  than  the  Archbishop  how  an  historian  might  use 
Papistical  books,  and  yet  be  a  right  loyal  Protestant 
and  true.1 

Just  before  this  domiciliary  visit,  —  we  have  di 
verged  from  the  order  of  time,  to  retain  in  connec 
tion  cause  and  effect,  —  there  was  a  vast  crowd  of 
people  in  St.  Bartholomew's  Church,  which  stood 


1  Stow  was  at  this  time  forty-four 
years  of  age ;  tall  and  lean ;  "his 
eyes  small  and  crystalline ;  of  a 
pleasant  and  cheerful  countenance  ; 
very  sober,  mild,  and  courteous." 
Leicester  was  his  literary  friend, 
and,  in  some  measure  at  least,  his 
literary  patron.  Fortunate  it  was 
for  his  own  peace,  that  he  was  of  a 
serene  temperament,  and  "  very 
careless  of  scoffers,  backbiters,  and 
detractors  "  ;  for  he  must  have  been 
beset  by  them. 

In  1544,  he  had  been  in  great 
danger  from  the  false  accusation  of 
a  priest.  But  the  tables  were 
turned  upon  the  perjurer,  who  was 
adjudged,  in  the  Star-Chamber,  to 
the  pillory,  and  to  be  branded  on  the 
cheek,  F.  A.  —  for  False  Accuser. 

The  very  year  after  the  occur 
rence  stated  in  the  text,  when  the 
nation  were  full  of  fears  about  Pa 
pistry,  when  Papists  were  expecting 
the  restoration  of  their  religion,  and 
Papist  astrologers  were  predicting 
the  queen's  death,  (Strype's  Parker, 
293,)  he  was  arraigned  before  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  "  or 
in  the  Star-Chamber,"  on  suspicion, 
apparently,  of  being  a  Fautor  of 
Popery.  The  accusation  was  laid 
by  his  own  brother,  who  had  previ 
ously  "  despoiled  him  of  his  goods  "  ! 


It  consisted  of  no  less  than  one  hun 
dred  and  forty  articles;  but,  upon 
trial,  was  proved  false.  "  An  hon 
est  man,  and  of  unspotted  life,"  was 
John  Stow.  He  must  have  been 
rarely  so,  to  have  escaped  under 
accusations  as  "a  favorer  of  Pop 
ery"  at  such  a  time,  when  to  be 
accused  in  such  matters  was  almost 
sure  to  bring  conviction. 

He  was  indefatigable  in  his  anti 
quarian  researches.  Being  prevent 
ed  from  riding  by  a  local  disease 
which  carried  him  to  his  grave,  he 
"made  use  of  his  own  legs"  to  go 
up  and  down  the  country  in  search 
ing  records  in  cathedral  churches 
and  other  "  chief  places."  He  lived 
poor,  but  peacefully  ;  and  died  poor 
and  painfully,  at  eighty  years  of 
age,  in  1605.  His  various  works, 
he  said,  had  cost  him  many  a  weary 
mile's  travel,  many  a  hard-earned 
penny  and  pound,  and  many  a  cold 
winter  night's  study. 

"  Lived  poorely  where  he  trophies  gave, 
Lies  poorely  there  in  noteless  grave,"  — 

was  written  before  the  erection  of 
his  "  monument,  set  up  at  the  char 
ges  of  Elizabeth  his  wife."  (Introd. 
Notice  to  Thorn's  edit,  of  Stow's 
Survey.  Biog.  Diet.,  15  vols.  8vo, 
London,  1798.) 


CH.  Xin.]  THE  TAPALINS.  355 

behind  the  Exchange  in  London.  It  was  on  the  19th 
of  February,  1568-9.  The  solemn  service  for  the 
dead  was  in  progress,  and  the  whole  multitude  were 
mourners.  Good  old  Father  Coverdale  had  "fallen 
asleep,"  and  they  had  come  to  lay  his  tabernacle 
away,  and  to  take  their  last  look  of  that  familiar 
face,  whence  nor  changes,  nor  perils,  nor  buffetings, 
nor  eighty-one  years,  had  been  able  to  remove  the 
placid  look  which  Grace  had  stamped,  which  heaven- 
ly-mindedness  had  kept  fresh  and  genial.  No  one 
had  been  so  venerated  as  he,  by  all  the  thousands  of 
London;  and  seldom  have  so  many  tears  been 
dropped  upon  a  coffin  by  unpretending,  noiseless 
grief,  as  upon  his.  They  committed  dust  to  dust; 
they  closed  the  chancel  upon  his  remains ;  and,  as 
they  went  away  to  their  homes,  each  was  murmuring 
in  heart,  "  Let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 1 


1  The  discrepancy  among  annal-  Parker,  328,  329.)     On  p.  493  of 

ists  respecting  the  time  of  Cover-  Parker's  biography,  Parker  dies  in 

dale's  death  is  remarkable.     Strype  May ;  but   on   p.    190   of  Grindal's 

(Annals,  II.  43)  says  he  died  May  Life,  he  is  resuscitated  until  August. 

20^,  1565 ;  and  yet  (Life  of  Grin-  Neal  (I.  90)  says  that  Coverdale 

dal,  116)  speaks  of  him  as  living  in  died    May   20th,    1567  ;    and   cites 

1567.     But   Strype  seems  to  have  Strype's    Parker,   where    no    such 

had  a  liking  for  the  resurrection  of  statement  is  made, 

the  dead  ;  for  in  his  Annals  (V.  37)  The  Parker  Society  says  he  died 

he  kills  Cox,  Bishop  of  Ely,  in  1581,  in  February,  1569. 

and  then  (p.  486)  brings  him  to  life  Brook    (I.    127)    says    he    died 

again,  and  to  a  peck  of  troubles,  in  "January  20th,  1568,  aged  eighty- 

1585.     (Fuller  says  that  Cox  died  one  years,"  and  immediately  gives 

in  February,  1579-80.     Bk.  IX.  p.  a  translation  of  his  epitaph;  which 

111.)     He  also  makes  Robert  John-  translation  reads  that  he   was   but 

son,  who  died  of  want  and  cruelty  eighty  years  of   age.     Brook   cites 

in  prison  in  1574,  a  very  naughty  Stow's  Survey  of  London,  Bk.  II.  p. 

man  at  Cambridge  in  1576  ;  a  very  122. 

naughty  preacher  at  Paul's  Cross  in  Fuller  (Worthies,  III.  412,  where 

1609  ;  and  the  same  again  in  the  1588  is  an  error  of  type,  and  His- 

same    pulpit    in    1620.      (Strype's  tory,  Bk.  IX.  p.  65)  gives  the  date, 


356 


THE  PAPALINS. 


[Cn.  XIII. 


What  a  contrast  was  the  funeral  of  Bonner, — 
Queen  Mary's  Butcher  of  Protestants,  —  who  died 
on  the  5th  of  September  of  this  same  year ! l  In 
1559,  he  had  been  sent  to  the  King's  Bench  prison 
to  protect  him  from  the  fury  of  the  populace,2 
whence  he  was  removed  to  the  Marshalsea  in  1560.3 
There,  he  "  had  the  use  of  the  gardens  and  orchards 
when  he  was  minded  to  walk  abroad  to  take  the  air ; 
suffering  nothing  like  imprisonment,  unless  that  he 
was  circumscribed  within  certain  bounds.  Nay,  he 
had  his  liberty  to  go  abroad,  but  dared  not  venture." 4 
His  friends  had  free  access  to  him 5 ;  "he  lived  plen 
tifully,  daintily  " ;  and  was  even  permitted  to  receive 
the  daily  visits  of  his  concubine.6  He  had  been 


"  Obilt  1568,  Jan.  20,"  i.  e.  1568-9  ; 
and  Covcrdale's  age  eighty-one,  — 
"  Octaginta  annos  grandaevus  vixit, 
ct  unum."  This  epitaph,  he  says, 
"  I  took  from  the  brass  inscription 
of  his  marble  stone  under  the  com 
munion-table  in  the  chancel  of 
St.  Bartholomew's,  behind  the  Ex 
change."  Brook  does  not  translate 
the  words  "  et  unum." 

The  Parker  Society  adds,  that  St. 
Bartholomew's  Church  was  taken 
down,  to  make  room  for  the  new 
Exchange,  in  1840 ;  when  the  re 
mains  of  Coverdale  were  removed 
to  St.  Magnus. 

I  find  that  Brook  cites,  not  from 
Stow,  but  from  something  added  to 
Stow's  Survey  by  Munday,  the  edi 
tor  of  the  edition  of  1633.  It  fur 
ther  appears,  from  "  The  Register 
of  Burials  in  the  Parish  Church 
of  St.  Bartholomew's  by  the  Ex 
change,"  that  "Miles  Coverdale, 
doctor  of  divinity,  was  luried  ano 


1568,  the  19th  of  February";  i.  e. 
in  modern  style,  1569.  (Memorials 
of  Coverdale,  Bagster's  edit.,  Lon 
don,  1838,  p.  181,  and  note  L,  p. 
190.)  Fuller's  copy  of  the  epitaph 
differs  in  a  few  places  from  that  in 
the  "  Memorials  "  ;  besides  having 
"Obiit  1568,  Feb.  20,"  which  the 
latter  has  not. 

In  the  text,  I  give  only  the  date 
of  the  funeral  services.  If  the 
time  of  decease  was  not  added  by 
Fuller,  —  and  it  is  hardly  to  be 
supposed  that  it  was,  —  Coverdale 
must  have  lain  without  burial  a 
month. 

1  Wood's  Athenae,  I.  372. 

2  Strype's     Grindal,     102,     141. 
Fuller's  Worthies,  III.  364.    Fuller's 
Hist.,  Bk.  IX.  p.  58. 

3  Strype's  Annals,  I.  220. 

4  Ibid.,  I.  214. 

5  Ibid.,  II.  358. 

6  Ibid.,  III.  303. 


CH.  XIIL]  THE  PAPALINS.  357 

under  sentence  of  excommunication  eight  or  nine 
years,  and  therefore  by  law  was  barred  from  Chris 
tian  burial.  This,  however,  was  not  withheld.  But, 
as  his  Popish  friends  had  arranged  to  give  signal 
honor  to  his  interment,  and  as  such  parade  would 
have  been  at  the  risk  of  a  riot  by  the  people,  who 
detested  him  for  his  atrocities,  the  Bishop  of  London 
considerately  ordered  him  to  be  buried  as  privately 
as  was  consistent  with  decency.1  He  was  carried  to 
his  grave,  in  St.  George's  Churchyard  in  Southwark, 
at  midnight,  September  the  8th;  "some  Popish 
friends  and  relatives  "  being  in  attendance,  but  "  with 
derision  of  men  and  women ;  buried  among  thieves 
and  murderers ;  his  grave  stamped  and  trampled  on 
after  he  was  laid  into  it :  and  this  was  all  the  perse 
cution  he  suffered."  2 

"The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed;  but  the 
name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot." 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  had  had  larger  experience 
of  the  caprice  and  rough  usage  of  fortune  in  twen 
ty-seven  years  of  life,  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of 
men  and  women  during  threescore  years  and  ten. 
Queen  of  Scotland,  in  her  cradle ;  queen  consort  and 
queen  dowager  of  France,  and  queen  regnant  in 
her  native  realm,  while  yet  in  her  teens;  she  was 
now  twice  a  widow,  twice  a  captive,  and  four  years 
a  mother.  Beautiful,  young,  of  gentle  disposition, 
kind  heart,  and  "winning  grace,"  accustomed  from 
infancy  to  the  refined  usages  of  the  French  Court, 
she  was  ill  fitted  to  curb  the  turbulence,  or  brook  the 

1  Grindal  to  Cecil,  Sept.  9.  1569 ;        2  Strype's  Grindal,  142.     Wood's 
in  Ellis,  1st  Series,  II.  258.  Athenae,  I.  372. 


358 


THE  PAPALINS. 


[Cn.  XIH. 


rudeness,  of  semi-barbarous  Scots.  The  owl,  the 
crow,  the  vulture,  had  pitted  themselves  against  this 
talonless  bird  of  fair  plumage  and  sweet  song,  and 
had  hawked  at  her  till,  for  very  life,  she  had  flown 
away  for  refuge.  She  had  sought  and  been  promised 
shelter  in  England.1  But  state  policy  —  that  gory 
ogre  —  had  put  the  trembling,  helpless,  trusting 
fugitive  into  a  cage,  to  pine  and  flutter  and  make 
her  sad  plaint  there  until  the  time  of  blood.  She 
had  now  been  eighteen  months  the  prisoner  of  Eliz 
abeth. 

"State  policy?"    Yes;  state  policy,  —  conscience 
less,    shameless,    remorseless,    Godless,    Bible-less ! 2 


1  Camden,  109.     Echard,  811. 

2  It  is  singular  to  find  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  (I.  35G)  in  the  mazes  of 
state  policy,  and  trying  to  draw  a 
parallel  between  the  imprisonment 
of  the  fugitive  Mary,  by  a  power  with 
whom  she  was  at  peace,  and  that  of 
the  fugitive  Napoleon,  by  a  power 
with  whom  he  was  at  war. 

But  it  is  painful  to  find  Alison,  in 
the  same  mazes,  penning  the  words 
following.  "  This  feeling  "  —  of  pop 
ular  disapprobation  of  the  bombard 
ment  of  Copenhagen  and  the  steal 
ing  of  the  Danish  fleet,  in  1807  — 
"  This  feeling  was  creditable  to  the 

public   mind, the   conception 

of  the  measure,  honorable  to  the 
government."  (Vol.  II.  p.  593,  New 
York,  1842.)  It  is  well  to  distinguish 
between  a  government  and  a  peo 
ple  ;  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  know 
that,  in  this  infamous  instance,  the 
moral  sense  of  the  two  was  at  strife, 
—  that  what  was  counted  their  glory 
by  the  British  ministers,  was  counted 
their  shame  by  the  people.  But  — 


to  repeat  it  —  it  is  painful  to  find 
a  Christian  writer  of  repute  com 
mending  in  the  same  breath,  and 
as  alike  worthy  of  approval  in  the 
court  of  conscience,  sentiments  so 
utterly  different ;  gravely  telling  us 
that  moral  discord  is  moral  harmony. 

So  men  reason  upon  political 
ethics,  when  they  pet  state  policy 
and  cut  loose  from  God. 

In  this  connection,  and  in  this 
country,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
discriminate  between  the  atrocities 
of  an  oligarchical  government,  and 
those  of  a  democratic  ;  to  consider 
that  there  is  a  difference  between 
the  moral  responsibility  of  a  people 
under  the  former,  and  that  of  a 
people  under  the  latter ;  and  to  pon 
der  whether  He  who  has  ever  been 
"  the  Governor  among  the  nations," 
while  he  may  not  visit  upon  the 
former  the  sins  of  their  rulers,  may 
not  righteously  and  notably  chastise 
the  latter  for  the  wrongs  done  by 
theirs.  Time  were  better  spent  upon 
points  like  these,  than  upon  many 


CH.  XIII.J  THE  PAPALINS.  359 

Mary  was  presumptive  heir  to  the  English  throne ; 
but  Mary  was  a  Catholic.  She  was  therefore  the 
dread  of  the  English  Protestants;  for  "the  religion 
established  was  thought  not  secure  whilst  she  was 
in  being." l  For  the  same  reason,  she  was  the  Star 
of  Hope  to  all  who  wished  England  recovered  to 
the  Papal  See. 

The  zealot  Catholics  of  England  —  chiefly  resident 
in  the  northern  counties  —  were  naturally  exasper 
ated  by  the  outrage  upon  the  Scottish  queen.  The 
powerful  Earls  of  Northumberland  and  Westmore 
land —  "both  Catholics  and  declared  friends  of 
Mary  "  —  plotted  an  insurrection  for  her  deliverance, 
and  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  old  religion.2 
To  this  they  were  emboldened  by  the  previous 
measures  of  the  Catholic  states,  —  above  recited, — 
by  the  intrigues  of  Ridolpho,  and  by  promises  made 
(through  him,  doubtless)  of  troops,  arms,  and  an  ex 
perienced  general  to  be  furnished  by  the  Duke  of 
Alva  from  the  Low  Countries.3  Taking  advantage 
of  this  state  of  affairs,  Dr.  Nicholas  Morton,  formerly 
a  Prebendary  of  York/  joined  their  counsels  in  the 
spring  of  1569.  He  came  directly  from  Rome  with 
the  title  of  "  Apostolical  Penitentiary  "  ;  not  only  to 
impart  holy  faculties  to  the  bishopless  priests,  but  to 
fan  and  feed  these  embers  of  revolt,  and  to  declare 
by  the  Pope's  authority  to  these  noblemen,  that 


which  demagogues  drawl  about  in  3  Haynes,   466.      Camden,    179; 

the  school-boy  conventions  of  our  day.  where  this   insurrection   is  errone- 

1  Lord  Buckhurst  to  Mary ;  But-  ously  said  to  have  been  forwarded 
ler,  II.  10.  by  a  bull  from  Rome,  which  was  not 

2  Elizabeth   to   Sussex ;  Haynes,  issued    until   the  insurrection    had 
556.     Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  83.     Lin-  failed. 

gard,  VIII.  45,  49.     Butler,  I.  375.  4  Camden,  134. 


360  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

Elizabeth,  being  a  heretic,  had  no  queenly  right.1 
He  had,  in  the  district,  kinsmen  of  wealth  and  in 
fluence,  whom,  as  well  as  the  Earls,  he  stimulated  by 
the  intelligence  that  the  curse  of  excommunication 
was  already  hanging  over  the  head  of  their  heretical 
queen.2 

As  early  as  July,  1568,  Cecil  had  received  infor 
mation  of  some  such  enterprise,  "  conspired  twixt  the 
king  of  Spain,  the  Pope,  and  the  French  king,  where 
by  the  Queen's  Majesty  might  be  destroyed  and  the 
Queen  of  Scots  succeed  her  " ; 3  and  before  the  prep 
arations  were  ripe,  it  became  evident  to  the  conspira 
tors  that  their  design  was  suspected,  if  not  known, 
at  Court.*  In  consequence  of  this,  about  the  middle 
of  October5  the  standard  of  revolt  was  precipitately 
unfurled;  the  communion-table,  the  English  Bible 
and  Service-Book,  were  torn  to  pieces,6  and  Mass 
celebrated  before  thousands  in  the  cathedral  of  Dur 
ham;  and  the  common  people  were  mustered  in 


1  Holingshed,  IV.  521.     Stiype's  Majesty.    The  Italian  is  he  to -whom 
Annals,  VI.  340 ;  Append.,  Bk.  I.  the   Duke   of  Alva  doth   send   his 
No.  XLVII.     Camden,  179.     Ech-  letters  of  conspiracy,  as  he"  —  the 
ard,  816.  marshal  —  "affirmeth.    The  French 

2  Lingard,  VIII.  45,  note.  king  hath  sent  them  Captain  De  la 

3  "  The  provost-marshal  wished  I  Garde,   with  speed  to  prepare  six 

should  advertise,  that  the   Queen's    galleys  to  aid  their  enterprise 

Majesty    did    hold    the   wolf   that  From  Paris,  in   haste,  this   7th  of 

would   devour  her,  and  that  it  is  July,    1568."  —  Norris    to     Cecil ; 

conspired  twixt  the  king  of  Spain,  Haynes,    466.     Cecil's    answer    to 

the  Pope,  and  the  French  king,  that  this  letter,  dated  July  13th,  is  in 

the  Queen's  Majesty  should  be  de-  the  Cabala,  p.  138. 

stroyed,  whereby  the  Queen  of  Scots  4  Lodge,  II.  26  ;  Cecil  to  Shrews- 
might  succed  her  Majesty, and  bury  and  Huntingdon. 

further  saith  that  there  is  an  Italian  6  Cabala,  160;  Cecil  to  Norris. 

that  being  privily  taken  could  °  Haynes,  554  ;  Queen  to  Sussex. 

disclose  much  of  treason  that  is  to  Holingshed,  IV.  235. 
be  wrought    against    the    Queen's 


CH.-XIH.]  THE  PAPALINS.  361 

arms  to  the  number  of  seventeen  hundred  horse  and 
nearly  four  thousand  foot.  The  Earls  despatched 
letters  to  the  Catholic  nobility  and  gentry  all  over 
the  kingdom,  exhorting  them  to  arm  for  their  most 
holy  faith ;  but  most  of  them,  instead  of  responding 
to  the  call,  emulated  each  other  in  offers  of  purse, 
person,  and  sword  in  the  service  of  the  queen.1 
Indeed,  the  larger  portion  of  her  advance  army 
under  the  Earl  of  Sussex  were  Catholic  gentlemen 
and  their  tenants.  Besides,  the  succors  expected 
from  abroad  did  not  arrive.  Thus  disappointed  and 
unsupported,  the  body  of  the  insurgents  began  to 
wane  by  daily  desertions ;  the  Earls  disagreed ;  and 
the  remnant  of  their  forces,  upon  the  first  approach 
of  the  royal  army,  scattered  to  their  homes.  The 
Earls,  with  a  fragment  of  their  cavalry,  fled  across 
the  border.2  Not  a  blow  had  been  struck.3  The 
blows  were  struck  after  all  was  over.  The  offenders 
were  ferreted  out.  Hundreds  of  the  poorer  were 
strung  upon  the  gibbet.  Men  of  substance  —  to 
secure  to  the  Crown  the  forfeiture  of  their  estates  — 
were  reserved  for  process  of  law.4 

1  Haynes,  563,  564,  589.    Cabala,  that  noble-spirited  soldier.     It  was 
160;    Cecil    to    Norris.      Camden,  written  to   Cecil  in   a  moment  of 
134.     Echard,  816.  indignation,  on  the  23d  of  January, 

2  Cabala,  160.  1569-70.     "  I  was  first  a  Lieuten- 

3  Holingshed,    IV.    336.     Fuller,  ante :  I  was  after  little  better  than 
Bk.  IX.  p.  83.     Echard,  817.     Lin-  a  Marshall:    (I  had  then  nothing 
gard,  VIII.  47-54.     Hume,  III.  64.  left  to  me   but  to  direct  hanging 
Camden,  133-135.  matters  ;  in  the  meane  tyme  all  was 

4  Camden,    136.     Lingard,  VTH.  disposed  that  was  in  my  comission) 
35,  60.  and  nowe  I  am  offered  to  be  made 

I  cannot  withhold  an  extract  from  a  shrieff's  bayly  "  —  sheriff's   bai- 

a  letter  of  Sussex  ;    partly  because  liff —  "  to  deliver  over  possessions, 

it  illustrates   the   text,   and  partly  Blame  me  not,  good  Mr.  Secretarie, 

because  it  shows  the  character  of  though  my  pen   utter  sumwhat  of 

VOL.    I.  46 


362  THE  PAPALINS.  [Ce.  XIII. 

Such  were  the  antecedents  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  such  the  chief  incidents  of  this  ephemeral  in 
surrection.  It  was  provoked  by  the  forlorn  condi 
tion  of  Mary,  and  sprung  by  the  cabals  of  the  Popish 
league. 

For  the  loyalty  of  the  great  body  of  the  English 
Catholics,  upon  this  occasion,  there  may  appear  below 
a  more  honorable  reason  than  that  assigned  by  their 
own  historian,  —  "  regard  for  their  personal  safety." ] 

A  person  convicted  under  the  Statute  of  Praemu- 
nire  had  forfeited  the  king's  protection.  Any  one 
might  wrong  him  with  impunity,  even  to  the  taking 
of  his  life.2  Like  a  wild  beast  or  a  rabid  dog,  he  was 
a  creature  to  be  shunned,  a  pest  to  be  hunted  down. 
But  so  to  deal  with  one  who  had  not  fallen  under 
this  forfeiture  was  counted  a  crime.  In  like  man 
ner,  it  was  held  pre-eminently  as  a  deed  "  shocking 

that  swell  in  my  stomake,  for  I  see  lyon,  and  yelde  no  other  shewe  then 
I  am  but  kepte  for  a  brome,  and  as  it  shall  please  others  to  give  the 
when  I  have  done  my  office  to  be  couller,  I  will  content  myself  to  live 
throwen  out  of  the  dore.  I  am  the  a  private  lyfe.  God  send  her  Ma- 
first  nobelman  hathe  been  thus  used,  jeste  others  that  mean  as  well  as  I 
Trewe  service  deserveth  honor  and  have  done."  —  Lodge,  II.  35. 
credite,  and  not  reproche  and  open  l  Lingard,  VIII.  52. 
defaming :  but  seeing  the  one  is  ever  2  This  was  the  popular  opinion 
delyvered  to  me  in  stede  of  the  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  until 
other,  I  must  leave  to  serve,  or  lose  corrected  by  statute  in  1562-3. 
my  honor ;  which  being  continewed  "  And  forasmuch  as  it  is  doubtful 
so  long  in  my  howse,  I  wolde  be  whether,  by  the  laws  of  this  realm, 
lothe  shoolde  take  blemishe  with  me.  there  be  any  punishment  for  such 
These  matters  I  knowe  procede  as  kill  or  slay  any  person  or  persons 
not  from  lacke  of  good  and  honor-  attainted  in  or  on  a  prsemunire : 
abell  meaning  in  the  Q.  Majestic  Be  it  therefore  enacted,  That  it 
towards  me,  nor  for  lacke  of  dewte  shall  not  be  lawful  to  slay  or  kill 
and  trewthe  in  me  towards  her,  such  persons  so  attainted,"  &c. — 
which  grevethe  me  the  more  ;  and  5  Eliz.  Cap.  I.  Sec.  XVIII. 
therefore,  seing  I  shalbe  still  a  came- 


CH.  XIIL]  THE  PAPALINS.  363 

to  human  nature  to  take  away  the  life  of  God's 
anointed  prince." l  Hence,  notwithstanding  the  in 
stigations  of  the  Papal  conclave,  no  assassin  had  yet 
moved  against  the  queen.  On  the  other  hand,  an 
open  and  avowed  action  on  the  part  of  other  po 
tentates  for  her  dethronement,  while  yet  she  stood 
unimpeached  and  uncondemned,  would  have  been  in 
sanely  impolitic, — a  terrible  precedent  against  princes. 
Hence,  all  action  of  the  Popish  league  had  hitherto 
been  indirect  and  under  cover.  But  were  it  supposed 
that  Queen  Elizabeth  was  abandoned  of  God,  that  her 
anointing  was  cancelled,  that  she  had  forfeited  and 
lost  the  sanctity  which  attached  to  the  princely  office 
and  even  the  common  claims  of  humanity,  no  one  — 
so  far  as  he  held  her  thus  —  would  have  scruples  of 
conscience  or  of  policy  either  against  her  dethrone 
ment  or  her  assassination.  There  was  one  thing 
wanting,  then,  to  make  her  fairly  a  mark  for  the 
archers  of  the  league,  —  her  spiritual  outlawry,  an 
edict  of  her  excommunication. 

It  was  at  hand.  For  several  months  her  case  had 
been  on  trial  in  the  Papal  Court.  English  Catholic 
ecclesiastics  —  among  whom  was  the  sedition-mover, 
Morton  —  had  deposed  to  her  crimes  against  the  See 
of  Eome ;  and  the  judges  had  pronounced  her  ob 
noxious  to  the  penalties  of  heresy.  The  Pope  hesi 
tated;  but  at  length  he  signed  the  decree,  on  the 
25th  of  February,  1569-70,  declaring  "  Elizabeth,  the 
pretended  queen  of  England,  the  servant  of  wicked 
ness,  to  have  incurred  the  sentence  of  ANATHEMA, 
to  be  cut  off  from  the  unity  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
to  be  deprived  of  her  pretended  title  to  the  king- 

1  Harleian  Miscellany,  L  115. 


364  THE  PAPALINS.  fCn.  XIII. 

dom  aforesaid;  absolving  her  subjects  from  their 
oaths  and  duty  of  allegiance  ;  commanding  them  all 
not  to  0%her;  and  innodating "  —  tying  up  —  "all 
with  the  like  sentence  of  Anathema  who  should  do 
the  contrary."1 

Some  of  the  Catholics  in  England  received  this 
bull  with  cordial  satisfaction  ;  but  generally  they 
disapproved  of  it,  as  uselessly  exposing  them  to  sus 
picion,  harassments,  and  severities,  and  as  tending  to 
produce  a  civil  war.2  But  more  than  this. 

There  were  two  opinions  in  the  Romish  Church 
respecting  the  Pope's  divine  right  to  deal  with 
princes  ;  both  of  which  obtained,  not  with  the  Cath 
olics  of  England  alone,  but  with  those  also  upon  the 
Continent.  By  one  party  it  was  held,  that,  when 
the  Pope  should  think  it  for  the  good  of  the  Church, 
he  might  depose  a  prince  and  absolve  his  subjects 
from  their  allegiance ;  by  the  other,  that  he  had  no 
right  to  intermeddle  with  state  affairs,  and,  by  con 
sequence,  no  right  to  annul  the  sovereignty  of  a 
prince,  or  the  obligations  of  his  subjects.3  This  lat 
ter  opinion  —  as  subsequently  appeared  —  prevailed, 
though  not  universally,  with  the  Catholics  of  Eng 
land  ;  and  on  this  ground  the  bull  of  excommunica 
tion  against  Elizabeth  was  held  by  them  of  no 
authority,  and  of  no  force.4  They  did  not  admit  that 
religious  faith,  or  ecclesiastical  authority,  could  touch 
the  bonds  of  patriotism  or  loyalty.  This  will  appear 
hereafter. 


1  Fuller,    Bk.    IX.   pp.    93  -  95.        3  Butler,  I.  7. 
Lingard,  VIII.  59,  GO.  4  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  95. 

2  Fuller,  Bk,  IX.  p.  95.     Camden, 
148.     Butler,  I.  349. 


CH.  XIIL]  THE  PAFALINS.  365 

The  queen  "  counted  the  bull  but  parchment,  or  a 
water-bubble," — "as  a  vain  crack  of  words  that  made 
a  noise  only";  and  took  pains  to  counteract  it  by 
laws,  only  so  far  as  she  saw,  or  thought  she  saw,  that 
it  instigated  and  emboldened  her  "bad  subjects  to 
work  mischief."1 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  May,  a  copy 
of  the  bull  was  discovered,  "hung  like  a  squib" 
upon  the  palace-gate  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  near 
the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul.  "  The  rack  "  was 
soon  put  in  play,  and  a  confession  extorted,  that 
John  Felton,  "a  gentleman  of  large  property  and 
considerable  acquirements,  but  of  an  ungovernable 
temper,"  was  privy  to  the  act.  This  "  lewd  person  " 
was  immediately  arrested ;  boldly  confessed  that 
he  had  set  up  the  bull,  and  in  August  was  hanged, 
drawn,  and  quartered  for  high  treason.2 

Though  the  majority  of  the  English  Catholics 
denied  the  validity  of  the  Papal  act  against  the 
authority  of  their  queen,  they  still  regarded  with 
reverence  its  spiritual  censures.  To  its  unsparing 

1  Burleigh's  "Execution  of  Jus-  of  the  story, — and  it  is  evidently 

tice,"   in   Harleian   Miscellany,   II.  apocryphal. 

13G,  and  in   Holingshed,  IV.   529.  2  "  Execution  of  Justice  ";   Harl. 

Camden,  148.   Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  96.  Misc.,  II.  136.     Osborne,  36.     Hol- 

In  Vol.  VIII.  p.  62,  Lingard  gives  ingshed,  IV.  252,   254.     Butler,   I. 

a  smart  syllogistic  answer  of  Pius  350.     Lingard,  VIIL  61. 

V.  to  a  request  of  Elizabeth,  made  Lingard    says,    "  he    gloried    in 

through  the   Emperor  Maximilian,  the  deed " ;   Butler,  that  "  he   ac- 

that  the   bull   might    be    revoked,  knowledged  the  guilt  of  his  action." 

That  such  a  woman  as  she  should  The  latter  is  sustained  by  Howell's 

have  proffered  such  a  petition,  can-  State  Trials,  p.  1085.    Camden  (148) 

not  be   credited  without  good  evi-  doubtless  expresses  the  truth  more 

dence.      Add  to  this  the  positive  accurately  than  either:   "With  an 

denial  of  Fuller,  —  who  gives  San-  undaunted  mind   he  confessed  the 

ders,  a  writer   of  the  day,   by  no  fact,  which  notwithstanding  he  would 

means  trustworthy,   as  the   author  not  acknowledge  to  be  a  fault." 


366  THE  PAPALINS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

denunciation  of  the  English  Church  and  its  worship, 
as  apostate  and  heretical,  they  bowed ;  and  their  de 
fection  therefrom  —  but  limited  and  voluntary  during 
the  last  two  or  three  years  —  now  became  religiously 
necessary  and  general.  The  established  worship  had 
not  changed ;  but  their  Pontiff  had  spoken.1 

Such  had  been  the  machinations  of  the  Papal  See, 
of  its  satellite  princes,  of  its  missionary  priests  —  and 
such  the  domestic  movements  —  against  the  person, 
government,  and  ecclesiastical  polity  of  Elizabeth. 
The  reader  is  asked  to  keep  them  in  view,  with  all 
their  ramifications,  underplots,  and  specious  pre 
tences,  because  they  show  the  reasons  of  future 
statutes,  which  —  sweeping  and  terrible  as  they  were 
—  had  some  pretext  of  justification  in  the  subtle, 
rancorous,  baptized  hostilities  by  which  they  were 
provoked;  and  because  they  throw  light,  not  only 
upon  statutes,  but  upon  the  character  of  the  sov 
ereign,  who,  as  will  appear,  showed  less  hatred  and 
less  cruelty  to  the  sect  implicated  therein  than  to 
the  Puritans,  whose  abhorrence  of  disloyalty  was 
equalled  only  by  their  abhorrence  of  Popery,  and 
whose  abhorrence  of  Popery  was  as  large  as  human 
nature  could  hold. 


1  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.   98.    Heyl.  Prayer  contained  no  positive  hetero- 

Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  30,  32.  doxy,  there  was  no  divine  prohibi- 

"  The  question  of  the  lawfulness  tion  of  being  one  of  the  audience, 
of  Catholics  attending  divine  ser-  Allen  took  a  different  stand,  on  the 
vice  in  Protestant  churches  to  avoid  ground,  chiefly,  that  religious  corn- 
penalties,  was  differently  regard-  merce  with  schismatics  and  heretics 
ed  by  English  Catholic  divines,  was  wrong  and  dangerous,"  &c.  — 
The  old  priests  —  Queen  Mary's  —  Butler's  English  Catholics,  J.  310, 
contended  that  it  was  not  a  thing  311. 
per  se  malum ;  that,  as  the  Common 


CHAPTEE    XIV. 

THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571. 

RELIGIOUS  AFFAIRS.  —  HER  MAJESTY'S  PROGRESS  TO  THE  PARLIAMENT- HOUSE. 

—  PARLIAMENT  OPENED.  —  THE  COMMONS  FORBIDDEN  TO  ORIGINATE  MATTERS 
OF  STATE.  —  STRICKLAND  INTRODUCES  A  BILL  FOR  REFORMATION  IN  THE 
CHURCH.  —  DEBATE  UPON  IT.  —  RESOLVE  TO   PETITION   HER  MAJESTY  FOR 
LEAVE  TO  PROCEED  THEREIN.  —  STRICKLAND  DETAINED  FROM  THE  HOUSE. 

—  His  DETENTION  RESENTED  BY  THE  COMMONS  AS  A  BREACH  OF  PRIVILEGE. 

—  SPIRITED  DEBATE.  —  THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  CROWN  QUESTIONED.  —  DEBATE 
SUSPENDED.  —  STRICKLAND  RE-APPEARS.  —  A  PROTEST  AGAINST  MONOPOLIES. 

—  THE   PROTESTER    AND   THE   COMMONS   SCARED.  —  THEY    RECOVER    FROM 
THEIR  FRIGHT.  —  PETER  WENTWORTH —  FOR  THE  DIGNITY  OF  THE  HOUSE 
AND  LIBERTY  OF  SPEECH.  —  BILL  TO  REQUIRE  PROTESTANT   COMMUNION. — 
DEBATED.  —  RETROSPECTIVE  LAW.  —  WENTWORTH'S  PROTEST  AGAINST  POPE- 
BISHOPS. —  BILLS  FOR  REFORMATION  LOST.  —  AN  ACT  FOR  THE  SAFETY  OF 
THE  QUEEN'S  MAJESTY.  —  AN  ACT  AGAINST  PAPAL  BULLS  AND  OTHER  SUPER 
STITIOUS  THINGS  FROM  ROME.  —  AN  ACT  TO  REFORM  DISORDERS  TOUCHING 
MINISTERS.  —  THE    COMMONS   PETITION  FOR  REDRESS    OF    ABUSES  IN  THE 
CHURCH.  —  THE  COMMONS  REBUKED,  AND  THE  PARLIAMENT  DISSOLVED. 

SOON  after  the  congregation  of  the  Hall  of  the 
Plumbers  had  been  convicted,  letters  were  received 
from  Beza,  to  whom  the  most  zealous  Puritans 
paid  great  deference,  deprecating  as  unlawful  a  sep 
aration  from  a  Church  in  which  sound  doctrine  was 
maintained.1  Owing  to  this,  or  to  the  terrible  pun 
ishment  of  confinement  in  the  pest-house  prisons  of 
the  day,  or  to  both,  we  hear  no  more  of  separate 
religious  assemblies  for  some  years,  excepting  rather 
a  mysterious  affair  in  January,  1569-70.2 

Yet  of  non-conformity  there  was  no  lack.  The 
Puritans  still  resolutely  evaded  the  use  of  the  sur- 

1  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  V.  Sec.  37.  2  Strype's  Grindal,  153  -  156. 


368  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [On.  XIV. 

plice,  and  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  when 
ever,  and  so  far  as,  they  thought  they  could  do  so 
with  safety;1  and  the  number  of  zealous  non-con 
formists  wonderfully  "increased  in  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom."2  The  University  of  Cambridge  was  full 
of  them.3 

But  spies  were  placed  in  every  parish  "  to  watch 
the  tripping  of  the  clergy  and  the  manners  of  the 
people,"  and  to  bring  each  class  under  the  penal 
laws.4  Consequently,  ecclesiastical  prosecutions  were 
greatly  multiplied,  and  many  of  the  most  valuable 
ministers  were  not  only  harassed  by  citation  after 
citation  before  the  spiritual  courts,  and  by  proceed 
ings  tediously  and  needlessly  protracted,  but  were 
impoverished  by  the  costs  of  their  own  and  the 
sheriff's  travel,  and  by  the  extortion  of  enormous 
fees.  They  were  also  suspended,  deprived,  impris 
oned,  and  forced  when  liberated  to  seek  their  sub 
sistence  in  foreign  lands.5  There  was  no  more 
toleration  in  London  for  non-conforming  ministers; 
for,  upon  Grindal's  translation  to  the  archbishopric 
of  York,  in  1570,  Sandys,  his  successor  in  the  diocese, 
ordered  all  such  tolerations  to  be  called  in.6 

At  the  same  time,  most  of  those  who  merely 
for  their  outward  grace  of  conformity  were  permit 
ted  to  retain  their  ecclesiastical  livings,  were  more 
than  suspected  of  being  hearty  Papists ;  and  many 
of  them  were  known  as  illiterate,  licentious,  profane 
swearers,  gamblers,  and  drunkards.7 

1  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  38.  5  Neal,  I.  112.     Brook,  I.  30. 

2  Brook,  I.  151.  6  Neal,  I.  115. 

3  Hallam,  113.  7  See  infra,  p.  405,  note  1.     Hal- 
*  Strype's  Parker,  260;  Annals,  lam,  112.     Brook,  I.  30. 

II.  132. 


CH.  XIV.J  THE  PAKLIAMENT  OF  1571.  369 

Public  worship  was  neglected  •  the  Lord's  day 
was  grossly  disregarded  ;  victualling-houses  and 
shops  were  opened  for  traffic,  people  went  hither 
and  yon  about  their  secular  callings,  and  markets 
and  fairs  were  thronged,  on  Sundays  as  on  other 
days  of  the  week.  Yet,  while  scandalous  curates 
were  tolerated,  and  exemplary  ministers  "laid  by 
the  heels,"  impoverished,  and  driven  into  exile,  the 
prelates  moved  languidly,  and  had  failed  to  secure 
the  action  of  Parliament  against  a  profanation  which 
was  sapping  the  foundation  of  religion  and  morals.1 

Although  Mass-worshippers  had  been  arrested  and 
punished,2  and  although  Papists,  "flocking  about 
the  Court,"  had  been  excluded  by  order  of  the 
queen,3  still  some  of  them  were  to  be  found,  not 
only  in  subordinate  public  offices,  but  in  those  of 
high  honor  and  trust;  and  to  some  her  Majesty 
granted  license  to  keep  Komish  priests  in  their  fam 
ilies,  and  winked  at  their  celebration  of  the  Mass.4 
Besides,  immediately  after  the  Northern  insurrection, 
—  was  it  to  conciliate  the  class  of  religionists  who 
were  plotting  against  the  Church  and  the  realm?  — 
the  crucifix,  which  her  Majesty  had  removed  from 
her  chapel  in  1562,5  "was  brought  in  again,  to  the 
great  disgust  of  the  people."3 

On  the  other  hand,  alarmed  and  disgusted  by  the 
uneasiness  of  the  Puritans,  —  in  whose  dislike  of 
ecclesiastical  restraint  she  saw  symptoms  of  polit 
ical  liberty,  and  whom  she  fancied  mutinously  dis- 


1  Strype's    Annals,    I.  532,    II.        «  Camden,  223.     Butler,  I.  361. 
238.  Lingard,  VIII.  61,  note,  and  84. 

2  Haynes,  395.  5  Zurich  Letters,  p.  161. 

3  Strype's  Parker,  269.  6  Strype's  Parker,  310. 
VOL.  I.  47 


370  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

posed/  —  the  queen  had  again  upbraided  her  bishops 
for  suffering  the  neglect  of  public  worship,  and  of  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church ;  and  had  ordered 
them  to  make  a  rigid  inquiry  for  all  such  delin 
quents.2 

Moreover,  the  influx  of  Romish  priests,  of  which 
both  parties  of  Protestants  were  sensible  ;  the  detec 
tion  of  some  skulking  in  disguise  ;  the  aggressive 
movements  of  Catholic  powers  abroad,  known  mi 
nutely  by  those  who  were  in  the  secrets  of  state; 
the  object  of  the  late  insurrection ;  the  issue  of  the 
Pope's  anathema;  the  withdrawal  of  the  Catholics 
from  the  established  worship ;  —  all  these  things,  in 
connection  with  a  late  sickness  of  the  qiieen,  —  in 
which  she  had  been  brought  so  near  to  death  that 
she  had,  this  time,  doubted  terribly  whether  "  the  ceas 
ing  of  her  reign  at  Whitehall  would  be  the  beginning 
of  one  in  heaven," 3  —  had  wrought  intense  anxiety 
lest  Popery  should  gather  strength  again,  and  come 
in  upon  the  nation  like  a  flood. 

Such  was  the  state  of  religious  affairs  in  April, 
1571. 

On  Monday,  the  second  day  of  that  month,  all 
London  and  Westminster  were  astir  in  holiday  gear. 
Prentices  and  journeymen,  in  their  long  blue  cloaks 
and  flat  caps,  wearing  the  sixpenny  love-tokens  of 
their  mistresses,  curiously  wrought  and  folded,4  were 
lounging  about  the  tap-rooms,  or  swaggering  along 
the  streets.  Pretty  maids  and  buxom  housewives, 

1  Butler,  I.  290.     Mackintosh,  I.        3  Strype's  Annals,  H.  26  7.     Com- 
360.  pare  above,  p.  279. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  281,  282.  *  Stow,  1039. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  371 

in  ruffs  of  linen  or  cambric,  —  but  ungratefully  ob 
livious  of  neat  Mistress  Dinghen,  to  whose  starching- 
craft  they  were  indebted,1  —  were  peeping  from  their 
windows,  or  chattering  with  gay  beaux  at  their  Door 
ways.  Mercers,  who  had  that  morning  sold  many 
a  pennyworth  of  pretty  things  to  pretty  customers, 
found  themselves  deserted  at  nine  of  the  clock,  and 
were  emptying  their  tills,  or  closing  their  shops. 
Soon  the  women,  the  maids,  the  prentices,  the  mer 
cers,  were  leaving  their  homes,  mingling  in  the 
streets,  and  moving  merrily  toward  the  ample  thor 
oughfare  which  then  skirted  the  river,  from  the 
queen's  palace  of  Whitehall  to  Westminster  Church. 
It  was  but  a  short  distance  between  the  two  ;  and 
before  ten  of  the  clock  the  way  was  lined  on  either 
side  by  a  dense  throng,  while  every  door  and  win 
dow  was  filled  with  people,  and  every  roof  suitable 
for  the  purpose  bore  its  burden  of  human  life  and 
throbbing  loyalty.  The  queen  was  to  pass  from  her 
palace,  —  not,  as  in  1566,  in  her  barge,  but  "in  the 
ancient,  accustomed,  most  honorable  passage,"  —  to 
open  her  Parliament;  and  her  people  were  always 
eager  to  see  and  greet  her  when  she  moved  in  regal 
state. 

At  ten  o'clock  the  trumpets  sounded  loud  and  long 
from  the  palace-yard,  when  her  Majesty  appeared  at 
the  grand  entrance  in  her  imperial  robes,  her  heavy 
mantle  being  borne  up  from  her  arms  by  two  of  her 
nobles,  until  she  was  seated  in  her  coach  of  state.  A 
close-fitting  kirtle  of  crimson  velvet  displayed  the 
mature  symmetry  of  her  form.  From  her  neck  hung 
a  rich  collar,  set  with  jewels ;  upon  her  head  rested 

1  Stow,  869. 


372  THE   PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

a  coronet  of  gold,  glittering  with  pearls  and  pre 
cious  stones.  Her  coach  was  drawrn  by  two  palfreys 
draped  with  cloth  of  crimson  velvet,  richly  em 
bossed  and  embroidered.  No  sooner  was  her  Ma 
jesty  seated,  than  the  trumpets  gave  another  peal 
of  joy,  and  the  magnificent  train  of  her  attendants, 
which  had  already  been  formed  and  in  waiting, 
began  to  move. 

First  rode  the  gentlemen  sworn  to  attend  her  per 
son  j  then,  the  Bachelor  Knights  of  the  Bath ;  then 
the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer ;  then,  the  Judges,  with 
the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  her  Majesty's  Attorney- 
General,  and  her  Solicitor-General,  —  all  arrayed  in 
the  insignia  and  robes  of  their  orders  and  offices. 
Next  followed  the  bishops,  riding  in  their  robes  of 
scarlet,  lined  with  meniver,  their  hoods,  lined  with 
the  same,  thrown  back  upon  their  shoulders.  After 
these  moved  the  Earls ;  and  next,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  his  full  robes.  The  hat  of  mainte 
nance  was  carried  before  her  Majesty  by  the  Marquis 
of  Northampton ;  and  the  sword,  by  the  Earl  of  Sus 
sex.  On  either  side  of  her  Majesty  went  the  Pen 
sioners,  with  their  axes,  and  her  footmen,  men  of 
extraordinary  stature,  symmetry,  and  strength,  and 
without  the  least  blemish  or  defect.1  Next  after  the 
royal  coach  rode  the  queen's  favorite,  the  Earl  of 
Leicester,  in  respect  of  his  office  of  the  Master  of 
Horse,  leading  her  Majesty's  spare  horse.  Then  fol 
lowed  forty-seven  ladies  and  women  of  honor,  pro 
tected  on  each  side  by  the  Guard,  in  their  mag 
nificent  uniform. 

Along  the  whole  crowded  course,  the  heralds  and 

1  Osborne,  55,  56. 


CH.  XIVO  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  373 

the  Earl  Marshal  maintained  perfect  order,. and  with 
quiet  ease.  The  trumpeters  sounded ;  the  people 
shouted,  "  God  save  the  Queen ! "  "  God  save  the 
Queen!"  and  her  Majesty  graciously  acknowleged 
their  plaudits  through  the  whole  of  her  progress. 

Upon  reaching  Westminster  Church,  she  alighted 
at  the  north  door,  whence  she  was  ushered  within  by 
the  Dean,  and  other  officials  there  belonging,  to  the 
table  of  administration ;  while  her  noble  attendants, 
the  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  others,  were 
seated  before  her  according  to  rank.  Then  there 
was  singing  by  the  choir ;  a  prayer  by  the  Dean ;  a 
sermon  by  Dr.  Cooper,  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln;  and 
the  singing  of  another  psalm.  Immediately  after 
these  services,  her  Majesty  left  by  the  south  door  for 
the  Parliament-House,  with  the  Lords  in  the  same 
order  as  before,  all  on  foot,  a  rich  canopy  being  car 
ried  over  her  head  the  whole  distance.  She  pro 
ceeded  directly  to  the  chamber  of  the  Lords,  and  took 
her  seat  in  her  royal  chair  of  estate ;  her  robe  sup 
ported  by  the  Earl  of  Oxford ;  the  sword  by  the  Earl 
of  Sussex,  kneeling  at  her  left  hand  ;  and  the  hat  of 
estate,  by  the  Earl  of  Huntington,  also  kneeling  at 
her  left.  So  soon  as  she  was  seated,  the  Lords,  her 
Judges,  and  her  learned  Council,  took  their  respective 
places ;  the  Lords  spiritual  on  her  right,  the  Lords 
temporal  on  her  left,  the  others  in  the  midst  of  the 
chamber  on  the  woolsacks.  At  her  Highness's  feet 
kneeled  on  each  side  of  her  one  of  her  gentlemen  of 
the  chamber.  The  knights,  citizens,  and  burgesses  of 
the  Lower  House,  so  many  of  them  as  could  enter, 
stood  without  the  bar  at  the  farther  end  of  the 
chamber.  When  the  bustle  of  arrangement  had  sub- 


374  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

sided,  her  Majesty  rose ;  and  after  a  single  sentence 
of  salutation  to  the  Parliament,  directed  the  Lord 
Keeper  Bacon  to  declare  the  cause  of  their  being 
assembled.1 

In  obeying  her  command,  he  dwelt  largely  upon 
the  twelve  years  prosperity  and  peace  of  her  Majes 
ty's  reign;  asserting  roundly  that  God  had  blessed 
them  in  her,  not  only  with  a  Ram  Avis,  but  with  a 
Phoenix.  They  were  wanted,  he  said,  —  but  in  this 
matter  particularly  the  bishops,  —  to  consider  whether 
the  ecclesiastical  laws  for  the  discipline  of  the  Church 
were  sufficient  or  no ;  to  see  whether  the  temporal 
laws  were  too  stringent  or  too  loose,  too  few  or  too 
many ;  and,  especially,  to  fill  the  Exchequer,  for  the 
Queen's  Majesty's  customs  had  decayed,  though  in 
time  they  would  revive ;  "  but  then,"  said  he,  "  you 
know  the  horse  must  be  provided  for  whilst  the 
grass  is  in  growing."2 

He  then  directed  the  Commons  to  choose  their 
Speaker ;  and  the  ceremony  of  opening  the  Parlia 
ment  was  over. 

On  Wednesday  the  Commons  presented  them 
selves  with  their  Speaker  elect,  Christopher  Wray, 
Sergeant  at  Law,  who  ably  "  disabled  "  himself, 
was  "approved,"  and  offered  the  usual  petitions. 
In  answer  to  that  for  liberty  of  speech,  the  Lord 
Keeper  replied,  "that  her  Majesty  —  having  had 
experience,  of  late,  of  some  disorder  and  certain 
offences,  which  must  still  be  accounted  such  although 
they  had  not  been  punished  —  did  therefore  declare, 

1  D'Ewes,    136,    137,    compared        2  D'Ewes,  137-139. 
with  59,  and  with  Strype's  Annals, 
I.  435. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  375 

through  him,  that  the  Commons  would  do  well  to 
meddle  with  no  matters  of  state  but  such  as  should 
be  propounded  to  them."1  How  much  this  was 
heeded,  we  shall  see. 

Puritanism  had  outgrown  its  swaddling-bands. 
There  was  a  strong  party  in  the  Commons  who 
were  bent  upon  a  reformation  of  religion  for  the 
relief  of  the  non-conformists,  upon  whom  the  bish 
ops  had  borne  harder  and  harder.2  On  the  second 
day  after  the  election  of  the  Speaker  had  been  con 
firmed,  commenced  a  series  of  proceedings,  in  the 
course  of  which  was  a  sharp  struggle  between  the 
fledgling  prerogative  of  the  subject  and  the  old 
prerogative  of  the  crown. 

The  lists  were  opened  by  Mr.  Strickland,  "a  grave 
and  ancient  man  of  great  zeal,"  who  couched  a  lance 
for  the  honor  of  God  and  the  Church.  He  was  mem 
ber  for  Scarborough  and  a  Puritan.3  On  the  6th  of 
April,  he  addressed  the  House  in  a  long  and  spirited 
speech  against  certain  disorderly  and  unseemly  things 
which  were  suffered  in  the  Church. 

"  Great  hath  been  God's  goodness,"  said  he,  "  to 
wards  this  nation,  in  giving  us  the  light  of  his  Word. 
Gracious  hath  been  the  disposition  of  the  Queen's 
Highness,  by  whom,  as  his  instrument,  God  hath 
wrought  so  great  things  towards  our  deliverance 
from  the  superstitions  of  Rome.  In  other  nations, 
where  God  hath  suffered  the  same  good  light  to 
shine,  the  professors  of  the  Gospel  have  published 
to  the  world  a  Confession  of  their  Faith  ;  and  for 

1  D'Ewes,  141.  3  Mackintosh,  III.  156,  158,  note 

2  Strype's  Annals,  III.  93.    Neal,     (London  edit.  1831). 
I  115. 


376  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  I57J.  f CH.  XIV. 

this  purpose  learned  men  in  this  realm  have  in  time 
past  travailed,  —  Martyr,  Fagius,  and  others.  And 
before  this  time,  an  offer  thereof  was  made  in  Par 
liament  that  it  might  be  approved.  But  it  was 
hindered ;  how,  I  will  not  say.  This  book  is  in 
the  custody,  as  I  do  guess,  of  Mr.  Norton,  a  member 
of  this  House ;  and  I  call  upon  him  to  produce  the 
same  on  this  floor,  whereof  I  hope  he  will  not  fail. 
After  so  many  years,  we  ought  not  to  permit  errors 
of  doctrine,  if  there  be  such,  to  continue. 

"  Although  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  —  God 
be  praised  !  —  is  drawn  very  near  the  truth,  yet  are 
there  some  things  inserted  more  superstitious  than 
in  so  high  matters  be  tolerable ;  as,  in  the  admin 
istration  of  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  the  sign  of 
the  cross  to  be  made ;  with  some  other  ceremonies. 
Such  like  other  errors  there  be  therein;  all  which 
may  well  be  changed  without  note  being  taken,  as 
if  of  our  dropping  or  changing  of  religion  ;  it  being 
a  reformation  not  contrariant,  but  pursuant,  to  our 
profession,  which  is,  to  have  all  things  brought  to 
the  purity  of  the  primitive  Church  and  institution 
of  Christ. 

"  There  be  also  abuses  of  the  Church  of  England. 
There  be  also  abuses  of  churchmen.  All  these,  it 
were  high  time  were  corrected. 

"  Ask  you  what  abuses  ?  I  will  answer.  Known 
Papists,  if  so  be  they  do  only  make  show  of  con 
formity  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  laid  down  in  the 
Liturgy,  are  admitted  to  have  ecclesiastical  govern 
ment  and  great  livings.  At  the  same  time,  Protes 
tant  ministers  — honest,  learned,  godly  —  have  little 
or  nothing  of  preferments.  Preferments  !  Verily, 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF   1571.  377 

the  offices  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  ordained, 
and  the  livings  which  He  hath  appointed  thereto, 
be  made  merchandise,  —  bought  and  sold,  —  bought 
and  sold  for  money  !  0  Simon  Magus !  Simon 
Magus!  that  tlwu  shouldst  have  thy  prentices  and 
craftsmen  in  the  Church  of  England!  .Here,  one 
man  is  allowed  to  have  divers  ecclesiastical  liv 
ings.  There,  men  who  have  no  manner  of  parts 
for  the  duties  of  God's  most  sacred  ministry,  be 
hoisted  therein  by  favor.  Yea,  boys  are  dispensed 
with,  to  have  spiritual  promotions.  Let  them  but 
make  friendship  with  the  Master  of  Faculties,  then 
their  lack  of  faculty,  by  youth,  or  by  ignorance,  or 
by  gracelessness,  be  no  hinderance  to  their  advance 
ment;  by  whose  presence  in  the  sacred  office,  fit 
men  be  excluded ;  by  whose  nothingness  therein, 
the  flock  of  Christ  be  starved. 

"  These  be  grave  matters,  Mr.  Speaker ;  so  grave, 
so  nearly  touching  God's  glory  and  the  Church 
which  he  hath  purchased,  that  it  well  becometh  this 
Parliament  to  give  attention  thereto.  And  well 
were  it  an  we  be  not  sparing  of  time,  but  give  it 
both  largely  and  freely;  so  that  all  reproachful 
speeches  of  slanderers  may  be  stopped,  drawbacks 
in  religion  be  brought  forward,  over-runners  of  the 
law  reduced.  I  do  therefore  move  that  a  committee 
of  some  convenient  number  be  assigned  by  this 
House,  to  have  conference  with  the  Lords  of  the 
Spirituality  for  the  consideration  and  reformation 
of  these  matters ;  not  only  of  things  exceptionable 
in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  but  of  the  flagrant 
abuses  in  the  holding  of  ecclesiastical  offices."1 

1  D'Ewes,  156,  157,  and  Strype's  Annals,  III.  93,  97,  98,  compared. 
VOL.  i.  48 


878  THE  PAKLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

Mr.  Norton,  a  wise,  bold,  and  eloquent  man,  said 
in  reply, "  that  truth  it  was  he  had  a  book  tending 
to  the  same  effect ;  not  drawn,  however,  by  those 
whom  Mr.  Strickland  had  named,  but  under  King 
Edward  by  the  act  of  thirty-two  "  (persons)  ;  "  viz. 
eight  bishops,  eight  divines,  eight  civilians,  and 
eight  temporal  lawyers.  These  thirty-two,  having 
in  charge  to  make  ecclesiastical  constitutions,  took 
the  same  in  hand.  It  was  drafted  by  Mr.  Dr.  Had- 
don,  the  learned  civilian,  and  Master  of  Bequests  to 
the  queen ;  and  was  penned  by  Mr.  Cheeke.  From 
this  book,"  he  added,  "  Mr.  Fox  had  of  late  prepared 
one,  after  considerable  pains,  which  had  been  newly 
printed."  This  book  he  then  produced ;  saying, 
"  that  he  approved  of  Mr.  Strickland's  motion ;  but 
especially  of  that  part  of  it  for  avoiding  and  sup 
pressing  Simoniacal  Ingrossments." l 

1  D'Ewes,    157,    compared    with  temporality,  and  the  other  sixteen  to 

Strype's  Annals,  III.  9  7 ;  Parker,  323.  be  of  the  clergy.     It  further  enacted, 

"By  virtue  of  the  Act  of  32,"  is  that  such  canons  and  constitutions 
the  reading  in  D'Ewes,  p.  157.  Still  as  his  Highness  and  the  said  thirty- 
more  strangely,  in  Hansard's  Parlia-  two  persons,  or  the  more  part  of  them, 
mentary  History,  I.  734,  the  reading  should  deem  worthy  to  be  continued, 
is,  "  The  Book  was  drawn  by  vir-  should  thenceforth  be  of  force,  and 
tue  of  the  Act  of  1532."  the  residue  thenceforth  void.  By 

The  Act  25  Henry   VIII.   Cap.  Sec.  VII,  all   such  canons,  &c.  as 

XIX.,  after  reciting  that  convoca-  were  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  or 

tions  of  the  clergy  should  be  assem-  statutes  of  the  realm,  nor  to  the  pre- 

bled  only  by  the  king's  writ,  and  rogatives  of  the  crown,  were  to  re- 

that  the  clergy  had  promised  in  verlo  main  in  force  until  the  examination 

sacerdocii  never  to  enact  or  execute  and  review  of  the  said  thirty-two  per- 

new  canons  without  the  royal  assent  sons  should  have  been  completed, 

and  license,  enacts  that  the  existing  By   subsequent    acts,   this  eccle- 

canons  should  be  submitted  to  the  siastical  commission  was  extended, 

examination  of  thirty-two  persons,  to  from  time  to  time,  during  the  life  of 

be  appointed  by  his  Highness  ;  six-  the  king.    The  provisions  and  objects 

teen  of  them  to  be  of  the  upper  and  of  these  acts  were  not  carried  into 

nether  Houses  of  Parliament,  of  the  effect  while  he  lived.     A  new  com- 


CH.  XIV.J  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF   1571.  379 

A  committee  was  then  appointed  "  for  the  redress 
of  sundry  defections  in  these  matters." 

On  the  14th  —  Saturday  —  Mr.  Strickland,  one  of 
this  committee,  introduced  "  a  Bill  for  the  reforma 
tion  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  some 
Ceremonies  in  the  Church " ;  which  bill  he  pressed 
very  earnestly,  and  it  was  then  read  for  the  first 
time.1  It  seems  to  have  embraced  the  book  intro 
duced  by  Mr.  Norton,  with  a  Preface  by  Mr.  Fox, 
recommending  it  to  Parliament.2 

Upon  this  bill,  the  Treasurer  of  her  Majesty's 
Household,  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  remarked:  "If  the 
matters  mentioned  to  be  reformed  are  heretical,  then 
verily  they  are  forthwith  to  be  condemned.  But  if 
they  are  but  matters  of  ceremony,  then  it  behooveth 
us  to  refer  the  same  to  her  Majesty,  who  hath  author 
ity,  as  chief  of  the  Church,  to  deal  herein.  But  for 
us  to  meddle  with  matters  of  her  prerogative,  is  not 
expedient.  Withal,  what  cause  there  may  be  why 
her  Majesty  doth  not  run  and  join  with  those  who 
seem  most  earnest  in  such  matters,  we  know  not. 
Nor  are  we  to  inquire  what  such  cause  there  may 
be ;  for  in  time  and  due  order  she  hopeth  to  bring 
out  these  matters  of  herself." 3 

mission   of  thirty-two   persons   was  Yet,  by  the  reviving  of  the  Act 

appointed,  to  prepare  and  complete  25    Henry    VIII.    Cap.    XIX.,    it 

a  code   of  canon  law,  by  the  Act  thenceforth    became   law,   that   no 

3  &  4  Edward  VI.  Cap.  XI.     From  canons  could  be  of  force  which  were 

this    commission   was   appointed    a  "  repugnant,  contrarient,  or  derog- 

committee    of    eight    persons,   who  atory  to  the  laws  or  statutes  of  the 

framed  a  code ;   the  ratification  of  realm." 

which  was  prevented  by  the  death  l  D'Ewes,  166,  176. 

of  Edward.     These  acts,   repealed  2  Collier,  VI.  498. 

by  Mary,  were  revived  by  Eliza-  3  "  The  Treasurer  of  the  House- 

beth ;    but  nothing  was  ever  done  hold,  though  he  allowed  that  any 

to  carry  them  into  execution.  heresy  might  be  repressed  by  Parlia- 


380  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [On.  XIV. 

"Zeal  in  these  matters/'  said  the  Comptroller  of 
her  Majesty's  Household,  "  is  to  be  commended ;  but 
neither  this  time  nor  place  is  fit.  And  since  we 
acknowledge  her  Majesty  to  be  Supreme  Head,  we 
are  not  in  these  petty  matters  to  run  before  the  ball, 
which  to  do,  and  therein  offend,  were  great  folly. 
In  other  words,  heady  and  hasty  proceedings,  con 
trary  to  the  law  and  before  it,  do  rather  hinder  than 
help." 

"  Conscience  enforceth  me  to  speak  on  this  matr 
ter,"  said  Mr.  Pistor,  "  even  though  to  the  hazard  of 
my  credit ;  for  hundreds  of  this  honorable  and  wor 
shipful  assembly  are  well  able  to  teach  me,  and  at 
their  lips  would  I  gladly  learn.  Yet  have  I  grief  of 
which  I  would  fain  be  disburdened.  It  is  this, — 
that  matters  of  such  importance,  stretching  higher 
and  further  to  every  one  of  us  than  the  monarchy 
of  the  whole  world,  are  either  not  treated  of,  or  so 
slenderly,  that,  after  more  than  ten  days'  continual 
consultation,  nothing  is  concluded.  The  cause  is 
God's.  All  others  before  us  are  but  terrene,  yea, 
trifles  in  comparison.  Call  you  them  never  so  great, 
or  pretend  you  that  they  import  never  so  much,  — 
subsidies,  crowns,  kingdoms,  —  I  know  not  what  they 


ment,  (a  concession  which  seems  to  power  which  he  did  not  specify.     It 

have    been  rash   and   unguarded,)  should  be  remembered  that,  although 

yet  affirmed  that  it  belonged  to  the  he  was  a  Councillor,  he  was  a  Puri- 

queen  alone,  as  head  of  the  Church,  tan,  "  a  zealous  opposer  of  bishops." 

to  regulate  every  question  of  cere-  (Strype's   Parker,    394.)      Perhaps 

mony  in  worship."  —  Hume,  III.  70.  he  spake  as  a  courtier,  and  ivitliheld 

I  conceive  that  Knollys  neither  speech  as  a  politic  Puritan.     Or  it 

affirmed  nor  denied  anything  about  may  be  that,  Puritan  as  he  was,  he 

the  power  of  Parliament  to  repress  revered  the   vested   rights   of   the 

heresy;   that  he   only   said  that  it  crown, 
should  be  "condemned"   by  some 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PAKLIAMENT   OF   1571.  381 

be  in  comparison  of  this.  But  one  thing  I  know, — 
for  which  I  do  the  most  thank  God,  — '  Seek  ye  first 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you.'  This  rule  is  the  direction;  and 
this  desire  shall  bring  us  to  the  light;  whereupon 
we  may  stay  ourselves,  and  then  proceed  to  the  rest. 
Certes,  we  have  no  abiding  city  here ! " 

Mr.  Snagg  —  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  falling 
far  below  Mr.  Pistor  in  matter  and  style  —  main 
tained  Strickland's  articles ;  particularly  that  for  not 
kneeling  when  receiving  the  sacrament.  "I  would 
rather,"  said  he,  "  that  the  law  require  us  even  to  lie 
prostrate  at  this  ordinance,  than,  by  kneeling,  to 
countenance  the  old  superstition  of  transubstantia- 
tion.1  But,  rather  than  either,  let  every  man  be  left 
at  liberty  in  this  behalf  to  do  according  to  his  own 
conscience  and  his  spirit  of  devotion.  This  would 
be  nothing  contrary  to  the  royal  prerogative,  or 
derogatory  thereto." 

But  the  awe  inspired  by  the  prerogative,  as  pre 
sented  by  the  members  of  the  Privy  Council,  swayed 
the  House;  and  it  was  agreed,  upon  the  question, 
that  a  petition  be  made  to  her  Majesty  for  her 
license  and  privity  to  proceed  in  this  bill,  before  it 
be  any  further  dealt  in.2 

After  vehement  debates  upon  a  bill  "Against 
Licenses  and  Dispensations  granted  by  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury,"  and  upon  two  other  "  shame 
ful  usages "  and  "  griefs,"  the  Parliament  adjourned, 
it  being  Easter  Eve,  until  Thursday  next. 

When  they  re-assembled  after  the  recess,  Mr. 
Strickland  was  not  in  his  place.  Early  in  the  week, 

1  Compare  ante,  p.  226,  note  4.  2  D'Ewes,  166,  167. 


382  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

he  had  been  called  before  the  Privy  Council,  and 
commanded  by  them  to  forbear  coming  to  the  Com 
mons'  House,  and  in  the  mean  time  to  attend  their 
further  pleasure.1  His  absence  was  now  noticed,  and 
a  rumor  that  he  was  detained  by  order  excited  no 
little  commotion  among  the  members;  and  on  the 
next  day,  —  Friday,  the  20th,  —  Mr.  Carle  ton  called 
the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  fact. 

"  A  member  of  this  House,"  said  he,  "  is  detained 
from  us ;  by  whose  command,  or  for  what  cause,  I 
know  not.  It  should  be  by  us  considered,  Mr.  Speak 
er,  that  he  is  not  a  private,  but  a  public  man ;  —  the 
property  of  the  country;  the  representative  of  a 
multitude,  his  constituents;  and,  moreover,  a  part 
of  ourselves,  as  is  the  hand,  or  the  foot,  or  the  eye, 
of  the  body.  Neither  may  the  country  be  wronged, 
nor  the  liberty  or  the  wholeness  of  this  body  be 
infringed.  For  these  reasons,  we  may  not  permit 
his  detention  from  this  House.  Whatsoever  may  be 
the  purport  of  his  offence,  the  proper  place  for  his 
arraignment  is  at  our  own  bar.  Let  him  be  brought 
here,  then,  to  be  questioned  and  to  answer." 

To  this  Sir  Francis  Knollys  said  in  reply :  "  Let  us 
be  wary  in  our  proceedings ;  and  not  venture  farther 
than  our  assured  warrant  may  stretch,  nor  hazard  our 
good  opinion  with  her  Majesty  on  any  doubtful  cause. 
I  say,  her  good  opinion ;  for  you  have  but  just  told 
us,  Mr.  Speaker,  of  her  gracious  approbation ;  how 
she  hath  in  plain  words  declared  unto  yourself,  that 
she  hath  good  intelligence  of  our  orderly  proceed 
ings  ;  that  she  hath  as  good  liking  of  us  as  ever  she 
hath  had  of  any  Parliament  since  she  came  unto  the 

1  D'Ewes,  176. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PAKLIAMENT   OF  1571.  383 

crown ;  and  that  she  wisheth  we  should  give  her  no 
other  cause  than  to  continue  the  same.  This  high 
reckoning  of  her  Majesty  hath  been  to  our  great 
contentation.  Therefore,  I  say,  let  us  not  hazard 
our  good  opinion  with  her  Majesty,  nor  lose  this  our 
joy,  on  any  cause  which  we  do  not  wholly  under 
stand.  The  man  that  is  meant,  is  neither  detained 
nor  misused.  But,  upon  certain  good  considerations, 
he  is  only  required  to  expect  the  queen's  pleasure 
upon  certain  special  points.  In  this  his  attendance 
upOn  her  Majesty's  pleasure,  I  dare  assure  this  House 
that  he  shall  neither  have  cause  to  mislike  or  com 
plain  ;  since  as  much  favor  be  meant  unto  him  as  in 
reason  he  can  wish.  Moreover,  he  is  in  no  sort 
stayed  for  any  word  or  speech  by  him  in  this  place 
uttered ;  but  for  the  exhibiting  into  this  House  of  a 
bill  for  the  reformation  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  and  some  ceremonies  of  the  Church,1  which 
bill  was  against  the  prerogative  of  the  Queen,  —  a 
thing  not  to  be  tolerated.  Nevertheless,  the  con 
struction  put  upon  this  his  fault  is,  that  he  hath 
rather  erred  in  his  zeal  and  bill  offered,  than  to  have 
meant,  maliciously,  anything  contrarious  to  the  royal 
dignity.  Yet  after  all,  it  is  no  new  thing,  but  that 
which  hath  oft  been  seen,  that  speeches  have  been 
examined  and  considered  of.  So,  if  he  were  called 
to  account  for  words  uttered,  it  were  no  marvel  to 
make  stir  about." 

But  the  House  was  not  satisfied  with  soft  words 
from  a  Privy  Councillor.  The  case  evidently  was 
one  of  privilege,  touching  upon  their  liberties ;  and 
they  were  resolved  to  press  it.  Sir  Nicholas  Arnold 

1  D'Ewes,  176. 


384  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF   1571.  [Cii.  XIV. 

followed  Mr.  Treasurer  with  a  spirited,  vehement 
exhortation,  that  the  House  should  have  a  care  for 
their  liberty ;  adding,  "  that,  on  such  an  affair,  he  was 
forced  to  speak,  and  so  to  run  into  danger  of  offence 
to  others,  rather  than  to  be  offended  with  himself 
for  cowardice  and  silence." 

"  Mr.  Strickland  must  be  sent  for,"  said  Mr.  Yel- 
verton.  "  The  precedent  of  his  detention  is  perilous. 
Although,  in  this  happy  time  of  lenity,  among  so 
good  and  honorable  personages,  and  under  so  gra 
cious  a  prince,  nothing  of  extremity  or  injury  is  to 
be  feared,  yet  times  may  change  •  and,  if  we  permit 
this  usage  now,  we  may  thereby  give  occasion  and 
ground  that  the  like  usage  may  hereafter  be  con 
strued  as  of  duty,  and  be  enforced. 

"  All  matters  which  are  not  treason,  or  too  much 
to  the  derogation  of  the  imperial  crown,  are  in  place 
here,  and  to  be  permitted ;  here,  I  say,  where  all 
things  come  to  be  considered  of,  where  there  is  such 
fulness  of  power,  that  it  is  the  place  where  even  the 
right  of  the  crown  is  to  be  determined.  To  say  that 
Parliament  hath  no  power  to  determine  of  the  crown, 
is  high  treason. 

"  Men  come  not  here  for  themselves,  but  for  their 
countries.  It  is  fit  for  princes  to  have  their  preroga 
tives  ;  but  even  their  prerogatives  must  be  strait 
ened  within  reasonable  limits.  The  prince  cannot  of 
herself  make  laws  5  neither  may  she,  by  the  same 
reason,  break  laws.  The  speech  offered  here,  and 
the  offer  of  the  bill,  are  not  to  be  condemned 
as  evil;  for  if  there  be  anything  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  either  Jewish,  Turkish,  or  Pop 
ish,  the  same  surely  is  to  be  reformed.  Amongst 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF   1571.  385 

the  Papists  it  is  bruited,  that,  by  the  judgment 
of  the  Privy  Council,  Mr.  Strickland  is  taken  for 
an  heretic  ;  and  this  it  behooveth  us  to  keep  in 
mind." 

But  Mr.  Fleetwood  argued  otherwise;  showing, 
from  precedents  which  he  quoted,  that  members  had 
been  committed  to  prison,  or  stayed  from  the  House, 
by  command  of  the  crown ;  and  that  remedy  there 
was  none,  but  to  be  humble  suitors  in  their  behalf; 
whereupon  he  urged,  that  the  only  and  whole  help 
of  the  House  for  the  ease  of  their  grief  was,  to  be 
humble  suitors  to  her  Majesty ;  and  that,  therefore, 
they  should  neither  send  for  him,  nor  demand  him 
of  right. 

But  they  who  were  present  of  the  Privy  Council 
thought  differently ;  preferring,  for  politic  reasons, 
that  the  House  should  neither  demand  their  mem 
ber,  nor  be  urged  to  sue  for  him.  Either  expedient 
was  fraught  with  risk.  While  Mr.  Fleetwood  was 
speaking,  they  whispered  together ;  and  the  result  of 
their  conference  was,  that  the  Speaker  propounded 
that  the  House  should  simply  suspend  their  consul 
tations  upon  the  matter.  This  suggestion  was  prob 
ably  understood  as  significant.  The  House  quietly 
acceded  to  it,  and  passed  to  other  business.  It  was 
a  timely  expedient  to  save  the  honor  of  the  House, 
and  the  dignity  of  the  queen,  and  to  avert  a  haz 
ardous  contest  between  the  two. 

The  next  morning  the  result  of  the  armistice  ap 
peared  in  the  person  of  Strickland  himself,  who 
resumed  his  seat  in  the  House  just  as  they  were 
referring  to  committees  the  bill  for  coming  to  church 
and  receiving  the  communion.  To  signify  their  joy, 

VOL.    I.  49 


386  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

they  immediately  placed  him  on  one  of  the  com 
mittees.1 

This  experiment  of  the  queen  upon  the  temper  of 
the  House,  inspiring  them,  as  it  did,  to  a  stand  so 
resolute  for  Parliamentary  rights,  —  eliciting  also  a 
doctrine  so  true,  and  new,  and  therefore  bold,  as  the 
dependence  and  limitation  of  monarchy,  and  so  sa 
gacious  a  care  against  precedents  which  might  in 
future  prejudice  the  freedom  of  the  subject,  —  is  an 
incident  of  no  mean  interest  to  whoever  would  trace 
our  political  liberties  to  their  infant  sources.  But  it 
is  a  memorable  landmark  to  us,  who  are  surveying 
the  times  from  a  religious  stand-point,  because  in 
this  House  of  Commons  the  Puritan  party  was  con 
fessedly  in  the  ascendant.2 

But  another  royal  experiment  had  been  made, 
upon  another  Puritan.  The  queen  had  granted  li 
censes,  or  patents,  to  four  of  her  courtiers,  under 
which  they  monopolized  certain  commercial  privi 
leges  at  the  port  of  Bristol,  to  the  utter  ruin  of 
some  six  or  eight  thousand  of  her  Majesty's  sub 
jects.3  Against  this  monster  wrong,  Kobert  Bell,  a 
Puritan,  had  protested  on  the  7th  of  April.  To  a 
proposition  then  made  for  a  subsidy,  he  had  replied, 
that  by  these  and  such  licenses  to  do  tilings  contrary 
to  the  statutes  f  a  few  were  enriched,  while  the  multi 
tude  were  impoverished ;  and  that,  when  a  remedy 
should  be  provided  for  such  enormities,  a  subsidy 
would  willingly  be  paid.5 

Immediately  after  this  speech,  —  which  gave  such 

1  D'Ewes,  168,  175,  176.  4  Ibid.,  159. 

2  Hallam,  88,  149.  6  Ibid.,  158. 
8  D'Ewes,  242. 


CH.  XI V.I  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  387 

> 

offence  "above,"  that  her  Majesty  sent  a  message 
to  the  House  ordering  them  not  to  talk  so  much,1  — 
Bell  had  been  summoned  before  the  Privy  Council, 
who  gave  him  so  rough  a  handling  that  he  returned 
to  the  House  —  who  well  knew  where  he  had  been 
—  with  so  scared  a  look  as  infected  every  member.2 
Just  a  week  after,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  took  upon 
himself  the  task  of  deepening  this  impression.  He 
attacked  the  motion  of  Mr.  Bell  as  a  perilous  one. 
He  declared  that  it  tended  to  the  derogation  of  the 
imperial  prerogative ;  that  to  say  that  the  queen 
was  not  to  use  the  privileges  of  the  crown,  was  to 
say  that  she  was  no  queen.  People  were  in  danger, 
he  intimated,  who  uttered  such  speeches;  and  so 
were  they  who  permitted  them  to  be  uttered,  hear 
ing  them  without  rebuke.3 

The  House  were  so  daunted,  particularly  by  the 
woebegone  appearance  of  their  offending  member, 
that  for  nearly  a  fortnight  after  his  chastisement  not 
a  man  dared  touch  a  matter  of  importance ;  and 
whenever  they  ventured  upon  simple  matters,  they 
labored  more  that  they  might  not  be  misunderstood, 
than  upon  the  matters  in  hand.4 

But  on  the  20th  of  the  month,  the  effect  of  this 
experiment  had  worn  off.  Peter  Wentworth,  anoth 
er  Puritan,  then  opened  his  mouth  in  resentment  of 

1  D'Ewes,  159.  the  House  had  certainly  recovered 

2  Ibid.,  242.  their  courage   on  the    20th,  when 
8  Ibid.,  168.  they  entered  upon  Strickland's  case. 
4  Ibid.,  242.  "  Ten,  twelve,  or  sixteen  days  "  was 
The   time  of  Bell's  schooling  by  the  duration  of  their  fright,  as  stated 

the  Council  is  not  stated  in  D'Ewes.  from   memory  by   Wentworth  four 

But  I  think  it  must  have  been  the  years    after.     (D'Ewes,    242.)      It 

very  day  of  his  offensive  speech,  or  could  not  have  been  "  sixteen." 
Monday,  the  second  day  after  it ;  for 


388  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

the  speech  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  —  but  without 
mentioning  his  name,  —  declaring  that  it  proved  its 
author  to  be  a  fawning  courtier,  and  was  an  insult  to 
the  manhood  of  the  Commons ;  for  it  was  an  attempt 
to  frighten  men  who  ought  to  be  free.  He  then 
exhorted  the  House  to  have  a  care  for  their  credit, 
to  maintain  free  speech,  to  preserve  their  liberties, 
and  to  eschew  all  liars.1 

It  was  upon  the  very  heel  of  this  exhortation,  that 
the  Commons  came  to  the  rescue  of  Strickland. 
Thus,  the  first  "  experiment "  had  only  paved  the 
way  for  the  resistance  and  failure  of  the  other ;  and 
through  the  whole  affair  we  see  the  footprints  of  the 
Puritan. 

But  the  debates  in  the  Commons  were,  in  other 
particulars,  indicative  of  the  reforming  spirit  which 
pervaded  that  body,  and  were  remarkable  for  some 
of  the  opinions  disclosed. 

A  bill  was  introduced  early  in  the  session,  requir 
ing  all  persons  above  a  certain  age,  not  only  to 
attend  upon  divine  worship,  but  also  to  receive 
the  communion,  according  to  the  forms  prescribed 
by  law.2  Its  object  was  stated  by  Mr.  Norton.  He 
said,  "  that  it  was  necessary,  in  the  present  circum 
stances  of  the  realm,  not  only  to  secure  the  outward 
show  of  Protestantism,  but,  in  God's  cause,  to  dis 
cover  if  possible  secret  religious  opinions ;  to  sift  the 
good  seed  in  the  commonwealth  from  the  cockle, 
that  the  one  might  le  Jcnown  from  the  other.  Now 
the  very  touchstone  of  trial  who  be  those  rebellious 
calves  whom  the  Pope's  bull  hath  begotten,  must  be 
the  receiving  of  the  communion" 3 

1  D'Ewes,  175.  3  D'Ewes,  177. 

8  Ibid.,  156,  157.     Lingard,  VHI.  77. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  389 

It  was  objected  to  the  bill,  by  Mr.  Aglionby,  that 
it  was  not  proper  to  enforce  conscience,  as  was  pro 
posed  in  the  article  for  receiving  the  communion.1 

To  this  Mr.  Strickland  replied,  —  upon  the  spur  of 
the  moment,  it  should  be  remembered,  — "  that  con 
science  ought  indeed  to  be  left  free,  provided  it  did 
not  prompt  one  to  disturb  the  common  quiet "  ;  a  senti 
ment  perfectly  consistent  hitherto  with  the  religious 
behavior  of  the  most  zealous  Puritans,  —  consistent 
also  with  the  highest  principles  of  liberty  short  of 
licentiousness  and  anarchy.  He  said  further,  "  that 
the  bill  did  not  propose  to  straiten  conscience ;  for 
it  did  not  propose  to  force  the  receiving  of  the  com 
munion,  which  a  man  might  still  refuse  if  offensive 
to  his  conscience.  The  only  thing  forced  was,  not  his 
conscience,  but  his  purse."  2 

However  much,  upon  a  strict  verbal  construction, 
this  concluding  statement  might  be  sustained,  there 
was  moral  sophistry  in  it.  This  was  exposed  by  Mr. 
Aglionby,  who  declared  it  to  be  at  variance  with  the 
morality  of  the  Gospel,  and  even  with  that  of  en 
lightened  Paganism. 

"  Keligion,"  said  he,  "  is  the  distinctive  fact  of  dif 
ference  between  a  man  and  brute  beasts ;  therefore 
it  is  proper  to  enforce  by  law  the  worship  of  God, 
inasmuch  as  not  to  come  to  church  is  to  make  a  man 


1  D'Ewes,  161.  lam's  opinion  —  which,  I  think,  must 

2  Ibid.  have  been  the   result   of  a   curso- 
I  am  confident  that  I  have  here  ry  reading  —  is  positively  opposed. 

expressed    Strickland's   true  mean-  "It  was  objected,  that  consciences 

ing ;  and  that  I  shall  be  justified  by  ought  not  to  be  urged.     But  Mr. 

any  one  who  scrutinizes  his  speech  Strickland  entirely  denied  this  prin- 

as  recorded  by  D'Ewes.     To  this  ciple."     (p.    89.)     The  appeal  can 

interpretation,  however,  Mr.  Hal-  only  be  to  the  text  of  D'Ewes. 


390  THE   PARLIAMENT   OF   1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

seem  no  man.  But  there  is  a  difference  between 
requiring  one  to  come  to  church,  and  requiring  him 
to  receive  the  communion.  In  the  former  case,  we 
require  only  a  decent  external  act ;  and  neither  Jew 
nor  Turk  requires  more,  save  that  their  religion  shall 
not  be  impugned.  But  in  the  latter  case,  we  should 
be  more  intolerant  than  Jew  or  Turk ;  for  we  should 
enforce  the  conscience  of  a  man,  which  is  eternal 
and  invisible,  which  cannot  be  restrained  by  any 
policy,  which  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  greatest 
monarchy.  And  in  answer  to  that  which  hath  been 
said,  that  the  conscience  is  not  straitened  by  this 
bill,  but  only  a  penalty  of  the  loss  of  goods  is 
adjudged,  I  reply  this  out  of  Cicero  de  Legibus, — 
that  by  the  voice  of  his  own  nature  man  is  told  to 
care  for  his  fellow,  and  not  seek  to  bereave  another 
of  his  necessary  livelihood.  But  more.  Saint  Paul 
saith  we  must  not  do  evil  that  good  may  grow  there 
by  ;  we  must  not  take  from  a  man  his  goods,  to  the 
end  that  he  shall  do  what  is  not  in  his  power. 
This  compulsory  bill  condemneth  the  not  coming  to 
communion,  which  some  cannot  in  conscience  do ; 
so  that  the  only  favor  which  it  giveth  to  such  is,  that 
they  be  either  impoverished  to  beggary,  or  quit  their 
native  land.  Besides,  St.  Paul  hath  pronounced 
another  penalty  upon  him  who  cometh  unworthily, 
to  wit,  death  and  damnation,  as  guilty  of  the  blood 
and  death  of  Christ.  Some,  then,  to  escape  the  pen 
alty  of  this  your  bill,  must  meet  the  penalty  ap 
pointed  by  the  Apostle.  And  yet  again ;  there  is  no 
example  in  the  primitive  Church  to  prove  a  com 
mandment  for  coming  to  communion,  but  only  an 
exhortation.  St.  Ambrose  did  excommunicate  Theo- 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  391 

dosius,  and  forbid  him  to  come,  because  he  was  an 
evil  man.  For  us  to  will  and  command  men  to  come 
because  they  are  wicked,  —  it  is  too  strange  an  en 
forcement,  and  without  precedent." ] 

On  that  branch  of  the  bill  which  concerned  com 
ing  to  church,  Mr.  Aglionby  "moved  that  the  law 
might  be  without  exception  or  privilege  for  any 
gentlemen  in  their  private  oratories;  and  quoted 
Plato  and  Cicero,  both  prescribing,  for  the  observa 
tion  of  laws,  an  equality  between  the  prince  and 
the  poor  man,  not  giving  scope  to  the  one  above  the 
other  r  2 

Another  moved,  "  that  the  penalty  of  the  law  —  a 
pecuniary  mulct  —  should  not  go  to  promoters,  by 
whom  in  most  cases  no  reformation  was  sought,  but 
only  private  gain."3  He  might  have  added,  "and 
private  malice."  "  Promoter  "  was  another  word  for 
"informer";  one  who  promoted  a  law  by  informing 
against  those  who  disregarded  it.4 

Another  shrewdly  observed,  that  there  were  some 
"inconveniences"  attending  the  existing  law  upon 
this  subject;  intimating  covertly  that  it  might  be 
mended.  One  inconvenience  he  particularly  speci 
fied,  —  that  many  ministers,  notwithstanding  all  that 
had  be'en  done  to  enforce  uniformity,  still  deviated, 
some  in  one  way,  some  in  another,  some  more  and 
some  less,  from  the  forms  prescribed ;  —  that  the  law 
not  only  required  the  minister  to  conform,  but  for 
bade  under  a  penalty  any  one  to  be  present  at  such 
service ;  that,  at  the  same  time,  it  prescribed  a 
penalty  upon  whoever  was  absent  from  his  parish 

1  D'Ewes,  177.  8  Ibid.,  157.     Strype's  Parker,  260. 

2  Ibid.,  161.  *  Camden,  87. 


392  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

church.  "Now/'  said  he,  "here  is  a  dilemma.  If  a 
man  come  not  to  church,  in  such  a  case,  he  forfeits 
twelve  pence ;  if  he  come,  he  forfeits  a  hundred 
marks." l 

The  "mending"  of  the  law  proposed  for  obviating 
this  "  inconvenient  dilemma  "  was,  not  to  discipline 
the  ministers,  but  that  deviations  from  the  pre 
scribed  form  should  be  counted  no  offence,  provid 
ed  the  deviator  did  not  deviate  into  Popish  forms.2 
Here  the  bill  rested  to  be  considered ;  but  it  failed 
to  become  a  law. 

In  discussing  the  bill  for  the  Act  13  Eliz.  Cap. 
I.,  —  which  will  be  stated  below,  —  it  was  attempted 
to  make  the  penalty  of  treason  attach  to  any  one 
who  had  ever  impugned  the  queen's  title  to  the 
crown.  Even  two  Puritans,  Mr.  Norton  and  Sir 
Francis  Knollys,  defended  this  proposition ;  and,  it 
must  be  confessed,  with  some  ingenuity  of  argu 
ment.3  But  it  was  eloquently  presented  in  oppo 
sition,  that,  of  present  time,  man's  wisdom  may 
judge  ;  future  time,  his  policy  may  reach  to  •  but  to 
call  again  the  time  past,  or  to  raise  what  is  dead  in 
any  kind,  man  may  not,  nor  in  reason  is  it  to  be 
presumed ;  —  that  to  make  treason  of  a  fault  already 
committed,  which,  at  the  time  of  perpetrating  the 
same,  was  not  in  the  degree  of  treason,  was  a  pre 
cedent  most  perilous."4  Whether  this  advocate  of 
common  justice  was  a  Puritan  or  not,  his  sentiments 
were  so  obviously  in  accordance  with  reason  and 
humanity,  that  they  prevailed ;  and  the  reflex  bear 
ing  of  this  bill  was  expunged. 

1  1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.  Sec.  III.     D'Ewes,  161.  3  Ibid.,  163. 

2  D'Ewes,  177,  4  Ibid.,  162. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  393 

In  reviewing  our  sketch  of  the  proceedings  in  this 
Puritan  House  of  Commons,  we  gather  much  to  their 
honor  which  merits  our  remembrance ;  —  the  expo 
sition  of  the  impracticability  of  uniformity;  their 
manly  stand  for  freedom  of  debate  ;  their  jealousy 
of  dangerous  precedents;  their  attempt  against  ve 
nial  informers ;  their  claim  of  equal  privileges  of 
worship  to  the  poor  and  to  the  rich;  and  their  re 
sentment  of  the  monstrous  monopoly  of  commercial 
privilege.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  House 
of  Commons  in  the  new  Parliament,  which  assembled 
the  next  year,  elected  for  their  Speaker  the  bold 
mover  against  this  last  abuse.1 

There  were  seven  bills  "for  the  reformation  of 
several  enormities  and  ceremonies  in  matters  of 
religion  and  Church  government "  introduced  into 
this  Parliament;  six  of  which  had  been  stayed  in 
the  last  Parliament  by  its  dissolution.2  On  the  25th 
of  April,  a  committee  of  six  —  one  of  whom  was 
the  Puritan,  Peter  Wentworth,  "  the  most  distin 
guished  asserter  of  civil  liberty  in  this  reign " 8  — 
was  appointed  to  wait  upon  Archbishop  Parker  for 
answer  touching  matters  of  religion.4  They  attended 
upon  his  Grace  accordingly;  having  "a  model  of 
reformation,  wherein,  as  some  articles  of  religion 
were  allowed  by  them,  so  others,  already  received 
into  the  Church,  were  left  out."  5 

"Why,"  asked  his  Grace  as  he  surveyed  their 
draft,  «  why  put  ye  out  of  the  Articles  of  Religion 

1  D'Ewes,  205,  242.  *  D'Ewes,  179. 

2  Ibid.,  180,  184,  185.  6  Strype's  Annals,  HI.  98. 

3  Hallam,  117. 

VOL.  i.  50 


394  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [On.  XIV. 

those  for  Homilies,  for  the  Consecrating  of  Bishops, 
and  others  like  ?  " 

"  Surely,  sir,"  said  Wentworth,  "  because  we  have 
been  so  occupied  in  other  matters,  that  we  have 
had  no  time  to  examine  them,  how  they  agree  with 
the  Word  of  God." 

"What!  Surely  ye  mistook  the  matter!  Ye 
will  refer  yourselves  wholly  to  us  bishops  there 
in?" 

"  No,  by  the  faith  I  bear  to  God ! "  exclaimed 
the  intrepid  man.  "  We  will  pass  nothing  before 
we  understand  what  it  is;  for  that  were  to  make 
you  popes.  Make  ye  popes  who  list,  for  we  will 
not." l 

On  the  first  day  of  May,  the  Commons  received  a 
message  from  the  Lords,  "  that  the  Queen's  Majesty, 
having  been  made  privy  to  the  Articles  of  Keligion," 
—  the  most  of  which  related  to  matters  of  faith, 
the  others  to  the  consecration  of  bishops  and  priests, 
to  the  supremacy,  and  to  the  power  of  the  Church 
to  order  rites  and  ceremonies,2  — "  liked  very  well 
of  them,  and  intended  to  publish  them,  and  have 
them  executed  by  the  bishops,  by  direction  of  her 
Highness' s  regal  authority  of  Supremacy  of  the 
Church  of  England ;  and  not  to  have  the  same  dealt 
in  Parliament." 3  This  occurring  so  soon  after  his 
interview  with  Wentworth,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  Archbishop,  disturbed  thereby,  had  suggested 

1  D'Ewes,  239,  240.  it  under  its  right  date  in  his  An- 

Strype,  in  his  Life  of  Parker  (p.  nals. 

394),   assigns  this  incident  to  the  2  Hallam,  117. 

Parliament    of    1572 ;  but    places  3  D'Ewes,  180. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  395 

this  message  to  the  queen  as  a  politic  one  to  avoid 
collision  with  the  Commons.  But  notwithstanding, 
the  Commons  did  proceed  upon  some  of  the  seven 
bills ;  three  of  which  they  afterwards  passed  and 
sent  to  the  Lords.1  By  reason  of  the  queen's  jealousy 
of  her  supremacy,  particularly  excited  for  the  occa 
sion  by  some  of  the  hierarchy,2  these  bills  all  fell  to 
the  ground.  Three  others,  which  received  the  royal 
sanction,  claim  our  attention. 

By  the  first3  it  was  enacted,  that  whoever  should 
affirm  that  any  other  than  Elizabeth  ought  to  wear 
the  crown,  or  that  the  laws  did  not  bind  its  right 
and  descent,  or  should  publish  her  to  be  heretic, 
schismatic,  tyrant,  or  infidel,  should  be  adjudged 
guilty  of  high  treason. 

To  affirm  by  writing  or  printing,  during  her  life, 
that  any  one  not  designated  by  Parliament,  or  not 
the  natural  issue  of  her  body,  was,  or  ought  to  be, 
her  heir  or  successor,  and  to  aid  or  abet  the  pub 
lishing  of  such  writing  or  printing,  was  made  pun 
ishable  with  a  year's  imprisonment  and  the  forfeiture 
of  half  one's  goods,  for  the  first  offence ;  with  the 
penalties  of  a  prsemunire,  for  the  second. 

With  the  relation  of  the  Queen  of  Scots  to  the 
crown,  and  the  machinations  of  the  Catholics  in  her 
behalf,  in  our  eye  the  cause  and  object  of  this  law 
are  obvious. 

In  the  preamble  to  the  next  act,4  it  is  stated  that 
seditious  persons,  meaning  to  reinstate  Papacy  and 
to  excite  rebellion  in  the  realm,  had  procured  bulls 
or  writings  from  the  Pope  which  purported  to  ab- 

1  D'Ewes,  185.  3  13  Eliz.  Cap.  I. 

2  Ibid.,  184.  *  13  Eliz.  Cap.  II. 


396  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Ca.  XIV. 

solve  and  reconcile1  those  who  would  forsake  obe 
dience  to  the  queen,  and  yield  themselves  to  his 
usurped  authority.  Wherefore  it  was  enacted,  that 
whoever  should  put  in  use  any  such  Papal  instru 
ment,  or  under  color  thereof  should  absolve  or 
reconcile  any  one,  or  should  willingly  be  absolved 
or  reconciled,  and  whoever  had  obtained,  since  the 
queen's  first  Parliament,  or  should  obtain  or  publish 
after  the  1st  of  July  following,  any  such  Papal 
writing,  and  whoever  should  abet  and  counsel  any 
of  all  such  offences,  should  be  judged  guilty  of  high 
treason ;  that  whoever  should  aid,  comfort,  or  main 
tain  such  offenders  after  the  said  acts  or  offences, 
should  incur  the  penalties  of  a  proemunire.  To 
conceal  for  six  weeks  a  proffer  from  any  one  of  any 
such  Popish  writings,  or  of  absolution  or  reconcilia 
tion,  should  be  counted  misprision  of  treason.  To 
bring,  deliver,  cause  to  be  delivered,  and  to  receive 
with  intent  to  wear  or  use,  any  Agnus  Deif  crosses, 
pictures,  beads,  or  such  like,  consecrated  by  the 
Pope  or  by  his  authority,  should  subject  one  to  the 
penalties  of  a  prsemunire.  Other  sections  provided 
for  the  exemption  of  informers  from  any  of  these 
penalties,  and  for  the  pardon  of  penitents.3 


1  See  ante,  p.  340,  note  7.  secrated   it,  on  the  reverse.     The 

2  "  The  Agnus  Dei  is  a  composi-  Church  of  Rome  ascribes  many  vir- 
tion  of  white  wax  and  the  powder  tues  to  this  sort  of  relic,  and  con- 
of  human  bones  dug  out  of  the  cat-  fines  the  touch  of  it  to  persons  in 
acombs,  or  ancient  burial-places  of  orders."    (Harlcian   Miscellany,  II. 
the  Christians  at  Rome.     It  is  in  the  1 25,  note.)     It  was  always  "  conse- 
form  of  an  oval  medal,  with  a  rep-  crated  by  the  Pope  on  Low  Sun- 
resentation  of  the  Holy  Lamb  and  day."  (Collier,  VI.  495.) 

Christ  Jesus,  who  is  still  styled  Agnus  3  I  have  been  minute  in  my  ab- 

Dei,  or  the  Lamb  of  God,  on  the  one  stract  of  this  statute  ;  and  the  more 

side,  and  the  Pope's  effigy  who  con-  so,  because  it  is  imperfectly  present- 


CH.  XIV. J  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  397 

It  will  be  perceived  that  this  statute  declared  that 
to  be  treason  which  might  be  no  treason;  that  it 
decreed  the  most  savage  mode  of  death  which  man 
ever  invented  upon  the  Catholic  priest,  or  penitent, 
however  innocently,  in  regard  to  the  state,  they 
might  observe  certain  prescript  duties  of  their  relig 
ion  ;  that,  while  the  queen  erected  her  cross  in  her 
oratory,  the  same  symbol  worn  in  all  religious  sim 
plicity  and  purity  in  the  bosom  of  the  peasant 
maiden  doomed  her  to  a  dungeon  for  life;  that 
even  to  feed  the  starving,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  re 
lieve  the  sick,  to  minister  to  the  dying,  was  ordained, 
under  certain  circumstances,  a  crime.  Such  was 
the  legislation  of  men  resolute  for  liberty  so  far  as 
they  had  measured  it,  but  ignorant  of  its  true  nature 
and  dimensions.  It  is  not  to  be  justified.  Yet  who 
would  have  avoided  it  where  the  odor  of  Rome  was 
as  the  odor  of  the  Upas,  where  the  ingenuity  and 
strength  of  Home  were  tasked  against  the  common 
wealth,  and  where  religion  and  state  affairs  were 
so  identified  that  no  human  eye  could  distinguish 
the  loyal  devotee  from  the  sanctimonious  traitor? 
With  like  fears,  with  like  antipathies,  and  under  like 
political  circumstances,  should  tve?  For  the  retro 
spective  clause  of  the  third  section,  there  is  no 
apology. 

The  bill  containing  "  the  Articles  of  Religion," 
which  the  queen  liked,  but  chose  to  take  care  of 

ed  by  Hume,  Hallam,  Neal,  and  the  aiders  and  abettors  of  absolution 
others,  who  do  not  bring  to  view  its  and  reconcilement ;  and  not  bringing 
most  cruel  points.  Even  Lingard  to  view,  that  the  comforters  and  main- 
has  failed  to  do  it  justice,  mistaking  tamers  of  offenders,  after  the  fact, 
the  penalties  of  praemunire,  instead  were  involved  in  a  praeiuunire. 
of  those  of  treason,  as  attaching  to  (VIII.  77.) 


398  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

herself,  was  one  of  the  six  bills  introduced  to  the 
Commons  in  1566,  and  now  re-introduced  on  the 
6th  or  7th  of  April.1  The  articles  were  those  "for 
sound  Christian  religion/'  adopted  and  printed  by 
the  Convocation  in  1562-3,  — "The  Thirty-Nine 
Articles."  As  the  queen  stopped  this  bill,  the  only 
Parliamentary  sanction  which  was  given  to  these 
Articles  was,  by  implication,  in  the  "  Act  to  reform 
certain  disorders  touching  the  ministers  of  the 
Church."  By  this  act,2  "  every  person  under  the 
degree  of  bishop,  who  doth  or  shall  pretend"  — 
claim  — "  to  be  a  priest  or  minister  of  God's  holy 
Word  and  sacraments  by  reason  of  any  other  form  of 
institution,  consecration,  or  ordering  than  the  form 

now  used, shall declare  his  assent, 

and  subscribe,  to  all  the  articles  of  religion  which  only 
concern  the  confession  of  the  true  Christian  faith  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  comprised  in  a  book  im 
printed  and  intituled  f  Articles  whereupon  it  was 

agreed  by  the  Archbishop  and  Bishops and  the 

whole  Clergy  in  Convocation,  holden  at  London  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  God  a  thousand  five  hundred 
and  sixty- two,'  &c." 

To  maintain  doctrine  contrary  to  the  said  Articles 
was  made  punishable  by  deprivation  of  ecclesiastical 
promotions. 

Twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  subscription,  were 
required  for  admission  to  any  benefice  with  cure. 

None,  permitted  by  any  dispensation  or  other 
wise,  should  retain  any  benefice  with  cure,  being 
under  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

None  should  be  made  minister,  or  be  admitted  to 

1  D'Ewes,  132,  160,  184.  2  13  Eliz.  Cap.  XII. 


CH.  XIV.j  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  399 

preach  or  administer  the  sacraments,  being  under 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  nor  unless  of  sound  relig 
ion  and  honest  life,  nor  unless  he  be  able  to  answer 
in  Latin  according  to  the  said  Articles,  or  have 
special  gift  and  ability  to  be  a  preacher. 

In  these  last  three  sections  the  truth  of  Strick 
land's  most  startling  statements  on  the  6th  of  April 
is  confessed,  and  their  influence  is  apparent. 

But  the  first  section  is  of  large  and  peculiar  sig 
nificance.  A  part  of  the  Articles  of  Religion  — 
those  relating  to  the  rites,  ceremonies,  order,  and 
policy  of  the  Church  —  it  does  not  sanction.  Again ; 
the  Catholics  alone  dissented  from  the  articles  "  which 
concerned  the  true  Christian  faith  and  the  doctrine 
of  the  sacraments " ;  therefore  the  Puritan  clergy 
were  not  hereby  excluded  from  the  offices  and  liv 
ings  of  the  Church,  for  a  subscription  to  the  other 
articles  was  not  required.  "  In  the  Book  made  in  the 
time  of  King  Edward,  a  subscription  to  these  other 
articles  seemed  to  be  required."  Therefore,  this  Parlia 
ment  of  1571,  "misliking"  such  subscription,  "-put 
it  out"  by  inserting  the  words,  "which  only  concern 
the  confession  of  the  true  Christian  faith,"  &C.1  But 
there  is  still  another  point  of  more  importance.  The 
validity  of  all  forms  of  ecclesiastical  ordination 
then  practised  throughout  Christendom,  whether  by 
bishops,  presbyters,  or  otherwise,  is  indirectly  ad 
mitted  ;  and  this  admission  —  implying,  as  it  does, 
that  neither  form  was  then  questioned  by  any  of  the 
parties  assenting  to  the  act  —  is,  for  that  reason,  the 
more  significant  and  emphatic. 

1  Strype's  Whitgift,  196;  and  Appendix,  Bk.  HI.  No.  XVI.  p.  79,  "Arti 
cle  First," 


400  THE  PAELIAMENT   OF  1571.  [Cn.  XIV. 

Nor  is  this  important  admission  to  be  considered 
extra-ecclesiastical,  because  it  was  Parliamentary ;  for 
it  had  the  deliberate  assent  of  the  head  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  who  claimed  "the  full  authority 
which  the  Popes  had  usurped " ; l  and  whose  Arch 
bishop,  even,  had  already  declared  that  "  this  claim 
to  Papal  jurisdiction  he  would  by  no  means  dis 
pute."2 

These  last  two  points  of  this  section  will  claim 
attention  hereafter. 

When  the  Commons  found  themselves  precluded, 
by  the  action  of  the  crown,  from  effecting  further 
reformations  in  religion,  they  resorted  to  supplica 
tion;  petitioning  her  Majesty  either  to  recommit 
those  subjects  to  her  Parliament  for  proper  legislative 
provision,  or  to  secure  the  desired  ends  by  some 
other  means.  By  its  faithful  disclosure  of  deplorable 
facts,  this  petition  left  her  Majesty  without  excuse  as 
"  Overseer  of  the  Church " ;  for  it  was  disregarded 
and  unavailing.  "  For  lack  of  true  discipline  in  the 
Church,"  said  this  paper,  "  great  numbers  are  admit 
ted  to  the  ministry  who  are  infamous  in  their  lives 
and  conversation.  The  gifts  of  those  who  have  any 
gifts  are  in  many  places  useless,  by  reason  of  plural 
ities  and  non-residency.  Thus  infinite  numbers  of 
your  Majesty's  subjects  are  like  to  perish  for  lack  of 
knowledge.  By  means  of  these  things,  together 
with  the  common  blaspheming  of  the  Lord's  name, 
the  most  wicked  licentiousness  of  life,  the  abuse  of 
excommunication,  the  commutation  of  penance,  the 
great  number  of  atheists,  schismatics  daily  springing 

1  Strype's  Whitgift,  260.  2  Collier,  VI.  467. 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1571.  401 

up,  and  the  increase  of  Papists,  the  Protestant  relig 
ion  is  in  imminent  danger.  Wherefore,  —  in  regard 
first  and  principally  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  next 
in  discharge  of  our  bounden  duty  to  your  Majesty, 
besides  being  moved  with  pity  towards  so  many 
thousands  of  your  Majesty's  subjects,  daily  in  danger 
of  being  lost  for  want  of  the  food  of  the  Word  and 
true  discipline,  —  We,  the  Commons  in  this  present 
Parliament  assembled,  are  humbly  bold  to  open  the 
griefs,  and  to  seek  the  salving  of  the  sores,  of  our 
country;  and  to  beseech  your  Majesty,  —  seeing  the 
same  is  of  so  great  importance,  —  if  the  Parliament 
at  this  time  may  not  be  so  long  continued  as  that, 
by  good  and  godly  laws,  provision  may  be  made  for 
supply  and  reformation  of  these  great  and  grievous 
wants  and  abuses,  that  yet,  by  such  other  means  as 
to  your  Majesty's  wisdom  shall  seem  meet,  a  perfect 
redress  of  the  same  may  be  had.  By  such  measures, 
the  number  of  your  Majesty's  faithful  subjects  will 
be  increased,  Popery  will  be  destroyed,  the  glory  of 
God  will  be  promoted,  and  your  Majesty's  renown 
will  be  recommended  to  all  posterity." ] 

But  her  Majesty  and  her  Primate  were  Precisians; 
more  zealous  and  painstaking  for  "  a  show  of  wisdom 
in  will  worship,"  for  "  the  handwriting  of  ordinances 
after  the  commandments  of  men,"  for  the  exact 
appliance  of  "  the  very  ornaments  of  their  religion," 
than  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  the  ability  of 
its  ministers,  or  the  suppression  of  vice.  "  External 
matters  in  religion  so  employed  clergy  and  laity, 
that  the  better  and  more  substantial  parts  of  it  were 
very  little  regarded."  2 

1  Neal,  I.  116.  2  Strype's  Parker,  395. 

VOL.  i.  51 


402  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  [On.  XIV. 

So  does  a  Levitical  ritual,  when  the  occasion  for  its 
language  is  passed,  overshadow  the  Gospel  which 
once  it  eloquently  symbolized.  So  natural  is  it  for  a 
worship  muffled  by  "  ornaments "  and  forms,  to  dis 
place  that  which  is  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  So  easy  is 
it  even  for  the  good,  where  importance  is  given  to 
outward  ceremonies,  to  forget  or  overlook  the  vital 
truth,  that  "the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and 
drink,  but  righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

The  queen  brought  the  Parliament  to  a  close,  by 
dissolution,  on  the  29th  of  May;  not,  however,  with 
out  an  acid  reprimand  to  the  Commons.  To  the 
Speaker's  parting  address,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  replied, 
"Mr.  Speaker,  her  Majesty  hath  commanded  me  to 
say,  that  like  as  the  greatest  number  of  them  of  the 
Lower  House  have,  in  the  proceedings  of  this  Ses 
sion,  showed  themselves  modest,  discreet,  and  dutiful, 
as  becometh  good  and  loving  subjects,  so  there  be 
certain  of  them,  although  not  many  in  number,  who 
in  the  proceedings  of  this  Session  have  showed 
themselves  audacious,  arrogant,  and  presumptuous ; 
calling  her  Majesty's  grants  "  —  of  Bristol  patents  — 
"and  prerogatives"  —  as  Overseer  of  the  Church  — 
"in  question,  contrary  to  their  duty  and  place  that 
they  be  called  unto;  and  contrary  to  the  express 
admonition  given  in  her  Majesty's  name  in  the  begin 
ning  of  this  Parliament,  —  which  it  might  very  well 
have  become  them  to  have  had  more  regard  unto. 
But  her  Majesty  saith,  that,  seeing  they  will  thus 
wilfully  forget  themselves,  they  are  otherwise  to  be 
remembered.  And  like  as  her  Majesty  allows  and 
much  commends  the  former  sort,  for  the  respects 


CH.  XIV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1571.  403 

aforesaid,  so  doth  her  Highness  utterly  disallow  and 
condemn  the  second  sort,  for  their  audacious,  arro 
gant,  and  presumptuous  folly,  thus  by  superfluous 
speech  spending  much  time  in  meddling  with  mat 
ters  neither  pertaining  to  them,  nor  within  the  capacity 
of  their  understandings." l 

If  they  to  whom  such  a  taunt  was  ministered 
took  it  meekly,  there  must  have  been  in  their  hearts 
something  of  the  grace  of  God. 

1  D'Ewes,  151. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND   THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1572. 

A  PURITAN  PETITION  TO  THE  CONVOCATION  OF  1571  REJECTED.  —  NEW  CANONS 
FOR  ENFORCING  UNIFORMITY  —  THE  STATUTE  13  ELIZ.  CAP.  XII.  STRAINED 
TO  ENFORCE  SUBSCRIPTION.  —  ORDER  FROM  THE  QUEEN  TO  ENFORCE  EXACT 
UNIFORMITY. —  EJECTED  MINISTERS  PREACH.  —  THOMAS  CARTWRIGHT  OP 
PUGNS  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  ANGLICAN  CHURCH.  —  DRIVEN  FROM 
CAMBRIDGE.  —  FIELD  AND  WILCOX  RESOLVE  TO  PETITION  PARLIAMENT. — 
PARLIAMENT  ASSEMBLE,  MAY  STH.  —  FOREIGN  PLOT  FOR  INVASION  AND  EEV- 
OLUTION.  —  ALARM  OF  THE  NATION.  —  "THE  GREAT  CAUSE"  OF  THE  QUEEN 
OF  SCOTS.  —  ELIZABETH  OBJECTS  TO  PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  HER  IN  THE 
DEGREE  OF  TREASON.  —  BOTH  HOUSES  DISSENT  FROM  THE  QUEEN.  —  THE 
REASONS  FOR  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  PARLIAMENT  AGAINST  MARY.  —  ELIZA 
BETH  DESIRES  ANOTHER  BlLL.  —  TlIE  PARLIAMENT  SUDDENLY  ADJOURNED 

BY  THE  QUEEN.  —  BILLS  IN  THE  COMMONS  FOR  KITES  AND  CEREMONIES. — 
THE  QUEEN  DEMANDS  THEM.  —  HER  MAJESTY  HERSELF  THE  DEFENDER  OF 
THE  FAITH. 

THE  ministers  of  the  Church  who  had  been  beg 
gared  by  deprivation  pleaded  hard  for  pity  and  relief 
before  the  Convocation  of  the  bishops  and  clergy, 
who,  as  usual,  met  at  the  same  time  with  the  Parlia 
ment  of  1571.  They  came  in  the  name  of  their 
flocks  without  pastors,  of  their  wives  and  children 
without  bread,  praying  that  they  might  be  suffered 
to  preach  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  without  risk  of  fines 
and  imprisonment;  that  they  might  at  least  have 
equal  chance  of  livelihood  with  conforming  Papists, 
who  were  notorious  for  vice,  and  who,  under  cap, 
cope,  surplice,  and  side-gown,  were  whispering  to  the 
people  in  corners,  that  there  was  no  salvation  out  of 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  that  the  new  religion  was 


CH.  XV.]   PRESBYTERIANS  AND  PARLIAMENT   OF  1572.     405 


about  to  fall.1  "  The  wood  was  "  not  "  green  "  now. 
It  began  to  consume.  The  cry  was  in  vain.  The 
Convocation  were  deaf.  They  passed  canons  yet 
more  stringent,  requiring  the  precise  observance  of 
the  Liturgy ;  that  no  minister  should  preach,  or  even 
in  a  private  house  read  the  Common  Prayers,  with 
out  a  license.2  It  was  also  ordered,  "That  every 
bishop  should,  before  September  next,  call  to  him 
all  public  preachers  that  should  be  in  their  respec 
tive  dioceses,  and  require  of  them  their  faculties  for 


1  Strype's  Annals,  I.  264.  Brook, 
1.171. 

The  Papists  were  sanguine  in  ex 
pectation  of  what  they  called  "  The 
Golden  Day,"  predicted  by  their  as 
trologers  and  conjurers,  when  the 
queen's  power  should  be  ended  by 
her  deposition  or  death,  and  when 
their  own  religion  should  revive 
and  flourish.  (Strype's  Parker,  293 ; 
Annals,  HI.  278.) 

The  petition  mentioned  in  the 
text  stated :  "  Those  who  observe 
your  ceremonies,  though  they  be 
idolaters,  common  swearers,  adul 
terers,  or  much  worse,  live  without 
punishment,  and  have  many  friends." 
This  statement,  and  that  of  Strick 
land  before  the  Parliament,  that 
known  Papists  were  tolerated  in 
the  ministry,  were  confirmed  by  a 
book  published  about  this  time  by 
Mr.  Northbroke,  minister  of  Rad- 
cliffe  in  Bristol.  None  of  these 
public  statements  appear  to  have 
been  contradicted.  Northbroke  said : 
"  Certain  ministers,  Papists,  avow 
themselves  such  in  their  discourses. 
They  subscribe,  and  observe  the 
order  of  service,  and  wear  the  side- 
gown,  square  cap,  cope,  and  sur 
plice.  They  run  into  corners  and 


say  to  the  people,  *  Believe  not  this 
new  doctrine ;  it  is  naught ;  it  will 
not  last  long.  Though  we  use  order 
among  them  outwardly,  our  heart 
and  profession  is  from  them,  agree 
ing  with  the  Mother  Church  of 
Home.  No,  no ;  we  do  not  preach, 
nor  yet  teach  openly.  We  read 
their  new  devised  Homilies  for  a 
color,  to  satisfy  the  time  for  a  sea 
son.'  Several  now-a-days  of  the 
Popish  priests,"  continued  North- 
broke,  "  are  thieves,  perjurers,  mur 
derers,  —  I  blush  to  repeat  the  rest ; 
and  some  are  arraigned  for  it  at  the 
bar  in  Exeter." 

One  of  the  most  scandalous  of 
these  was  Blackal,  —  a  priest  in 
whose  exposure  and  arrest  North- 
broke  was  instrumental.  He  was 
convicted  of  affixing  the  Arch 
bishop's  seal  to  a  counterfeit  writ 
ing,  and  of  having  four  wives ;  in 
atonement  for  which  he  did  penance 
in  a  white  sheet  at  Paul's  Cross  on 
the  6th  of  August ;  and  on  the  10th, 
was  set  in  the  pillory  at  Cheapside. 
A  singular  proportion  between  the 
punishment  and  the  crimes!  The 
sheet  was  for  polygamy ;  the  pillory 
for  forgery. 

2  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VI.  Sec.  41. 


406  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

preaching  which  they  hold  under  authentic  seal ;  and 
either  to  keep  them  or  annul  them.  And  then, 
making  a  prudent  choice,  whom  he  should  find,  by 
age,  learning,  judgment,  innocency,  modesty,  and 
gravity,  fit  for  so  great  a  function,  freely  to  give 
new  licenses ;  yet  they  first  to  subscribe  the  Articles 
of  the  Christian  Religion  approved  in  Synod,  and 
promise  to  maintain  the  doctrine  contained  in  them, 
as  being  most  agreeable  to  the  truth  of  God's 
Word."1 

These  canons  had  ecclesiastical  force  only,  —  not 
the  force  of  law.  For  this  reason,  Grindal,  now  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  absolutely  refused  to  join  in 
pressing  them,2  and  Archbishop  Parker,  to  divide 
from  himself  the  odium  of  his  proceedings,  asso 
ciated  therein  Horn,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  Cox, 
Bishop  of  Ely,  —  both  of  Frankfort  memory.3  With 
such  Precisians  in  concert,  the  prospects  of  the  non 
conformists  were  gloomy. 

Early  in  June,  several  of  the  most  prominent  min 
isters  about  London,  who  were  known  to  dislike  the 
Statute  of  Uniformity,  were  summoned  to  appear 
before  their  ecclesiastical  lords  at  Lambeth;4  there 
to  surrender  their  licenses,  and  to  qualify  themselves 
for  new  ones.  One  was  called  to  a  reckoning  for  a 
book  which  he  had  published  in  Queen  Mary's  time ; 
another  was  sifted  for  his  opinions,  political,  theo 
logical,  ceremonial;  and  so  on,  and  so  on;  but  all 
were  required  to  subscribe  to  the  Articles  of  Re 
ligion.5 

1  Sparrow,    225,    226.       Strype's  3  Strype's  Parker,  330. 

Parker,  321.     Collier,  VI.  449.  *  Ibid.,  325. 

8  Strype's  Parker,  322,  330.   Neal,  5  Neal,   I.    119.     Brook,  I.   176, 

I.  117,  119.  193;   II.  125. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  407 

Hitherto,  the  bishops  with  all  their  severity  had 
been  comparatively  sparing  in  pressing  subscription 
to  the  Articles  of  1562-3 ;  and  the  ministers  them 
selves  had  been  the  more  resolute  in  refusing  it,  or 
in  qualifying  it  with  reservations,  —  in  each  case  be 
cause  these  articles  had  received  no  countenance 
from  the  Parliament.1  But  the  Statute  13  Eliz.  Cap. 
XII.  had  given  a  sort  of  semi-legal  authority  to  the 
Articles,  of  which  the  bishops  now  took  the  advan 
tage,  and  because  of  which  the  Puritans,  desirous  to 
avoid  disturbance,  were  the  more  willing  to  subscribe. 
They  had  no  objection  to  the  Confession  of  Faith 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  Sacraments ;  and  to  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  they  would  assent,  with  the 
simple  qualification,  "  so  far  forth  as  is  agreeable  to 
the  Word  of  God."  Now,  to  their  amazement,  they 
were  required  to  subscribe  to  all  the  Articles ;  to 
those  concerning  the  episcopal  government  and  the 
public  Liturgy,  as  well  as  to  the  others.  They  ap 
pealed  to  the  statute ;  to  the  unequivocal  and  em 
phatic  word,  "only?  They  were  told,  that  even 
"  in  the  first  part  of  the  statute  an  ambiguity "  air 
tached  ;  that  that  potent  word  was  not  to  be  found  in 
the  other  sections,  particularly  in  the  second,  which 
designated  (f  the  deprivation  of  ecclesiastical  promo 
tions"  ;  that  its  words,  "the  said  articles,"  meant,  not 
the  said  articles  of  "  doctrine,"  but  the  said  articles, 
without  exception,  which  were  adopted  by  the  Convoca 
tion  of  1562-3.2  Such  a  construction  was  worthy 

1  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  102.  which  the  bishops  justified  their  re- 

2  Collier,  VI.  499.  quisition ;  but   he   thus   justifies  it 
Collier,  to  be  sure,  does  not  state    himself,  if  I  apprehend  his  meaning. 

that  this  was  the  precise  shape  in    Nor  can  I  doubt  that  he  truly  repre- 


408  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

of  the  u  trifles  "  in  support  of  which  it  was  extorted. 
It  was  of  course  resisted.  "  Subscribe  the  ivhok  of  the 
articles/'  was  the  rejoinder,  "  and  pledge  your  words 
to  maintain  everything  therein  as  altogether  agree 
able  to  the  Word  of  God ; *  or  resign  quietly,  or  be 
deprived." 2  Thus  the  edge  of  a  statute,  shaped  by 
the  Puritans  themselves,  only  to  protect  their  own 
clergy  and  to  cut  off  Catholic  heresy,  was  turned 
against  the  witnesses  of  Gospel  truth. 

On  the  same  grounds  were  the  licenses  of  all 
preachers  cancelled,  and  the  same  subscription  re 
quired.  Consequently,  great  numbers  were  ejected 
from  their  livings ; 3  which,  in  the  phrase  of  the  Pri 
mate,  was  "  bringing  them  to  some  better  stowage/' 4 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  the  arch-Precisian 
himself  was  conscious  of  some  lameness  in  his  au 
thority  ;  for  on  the  20th  of  August,  he  was  furnished 
with  the  following  mandate  from  the  queen. 

"  ELIZABETH  :  — 
"  Most  Keverend  Father  in  God,  Eight  Trusty  and 

Right  Well-beloved,  —  We  greet  you  well We, 

minding  earnestly  to  have  a  perfect  reformation  of 
all  abuses  attempted  to  deform  the  uniformity  pre 
scribed  by  our  laws  and  injunctions,  and  that  none 
should  be  suffered  to  decline,  either  on  the  left 
hand  or  on  the  right  hand,  from  the  direct  line 
limited  by  authority  of  our  said  laws  and  injunc 
tions,  do  earnestly,  by  our  authority  royal,  will  and 

sents,  and  meant  to  represent,  their  2  Strype's  Parker,  325. 

process  of  interpretation,  for  I  can  3  Strype's  Annals,  III.  167  ;    Ap- 

conceiveof  none  other  by  which  their  pendix,  Bk.  I.  No.  XII.     Neal,  I. 

conclusion  could  have  been  reached.  117.     Brook,  I.  32. 

1  Collier,  VI.  499.  *  Strype's  Parker,  330. 


CH.  XV.J  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  409 

charge  you,  by  all  means  lawful,  to  proceed  herein 
as  you  have  legun;  and  for  your  assistance  we  will 
that  you  shall,  by  authority  hereof,  and  in  our  name, 
send  for  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Salisbury,  and 
communicate  these  our  letters  with  them,  and  strait- 
ly  charge  them  to  assist  you  from  time  to  time, 
betwixt  this  month  and  the  month  of  October,  to 
do  all  manner  of  things  requisite  to  reform  such 
abuses  as  aforementioned,  in  whomsoever  you  shall 
find  them."1 

"  This  letter,  so  roundly  penned,  put  life  and 
vigor  into  the  Archbishop,  in  this  troublesome  busi 
ness  "  ; 2  and  its  directions,  as  we  shall  see,  he  in 
tently  obeyed. 

Little  had  her  Majesty  learned  of  human  nature. 
Little  had  she  profited  by  two  experimental  lessons, 
given  under  her  own  eye,  showing  that  religious 
severity  defeats  its  own  aims.  She  had  known  that, 
in  a  single  year,  thousands  had  been  converted  from 
Papistry  to  Protestantism  by  the  fires  which  her 
sister  had  kindled  at  Smithfield.3  And  right  well 
she  knew,  that  the  Papal  anathema  against  herself 
had  only  energized  her  own  opposition  and  that  of 
her  Protestant  subjects,  and  provoked  galling  enact 
ments  against  those  of  them  who  paid  him  alle 
giance.  Yet  she  pursued  the  same  policy,  sowed 
the  same  seed,  cherished  the  same  fruit. 

Many  of  the  non-conformists  who  were  deprived 
of  their  livings  and  licenses  came  not  to  repentance, 
but  were  the  more  resolute  in  their  non-conformity. 

1  Murdin,  183.     Strype's  Parker,        2  Strype's  Parker,  331. 
330.  3  Strype's  Memorials,  V.  4  70, 4 71. 

VOL.  i.  52 


410  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

They  still  preached  in  their  own  or  in  other  church 
es,  culling  from  the  English  Book  at  discretion,  or 
discarding  it  for  the  Book  of  Geneva,  until  her 
Majesty  ordered  the  church-wardens,  on  their  peril, 
to  exclude  them  from  the  parish  pulpits.1  These 
extreme  measures  crowded  them  beyond  the  narrow 
field  of  visible  things,  —  the  vestments  of  the  priest 
hood,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  kneeling  at  the  com 
munion.  Very  naturally,  they  began  to  question  the 
authority  of  a  Church  which  would  thus  deal  with 
the  sincere  followers  of  Christ,  —  to  question  whether 
there  was  not  something  wrong  in  its  very  consti 
tution. 

In  1570,  Thomas  Cartwright,  Professor  of  Divinity 
in  Cambridge,  a  profound  scholar,  of  remarkable  pul 
pit  eloquence,  of  high  repute  for  acuteness,  judg 
ment,  and  virtue,  began  to  discuss,  in  his  lectures 
at  the  University,  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  the 
Church.  In  these  lectures,  and  otherwise,  he  boldly 
maintained  the  following  propositions  :  — 

1.  That  the  names  and   functions  of  archbishops 
and  archdeacons  ought  to  be  abolished. 

2.  That  the  offices  of  the  lawful  ministers  of  the 
Church,  viz.  bishops  and  deacons,  ought  to  be  re 
duced  to  their  apostolical   institution;2   bishops  to 

1  Strype's  Parker,  325.  It  is  probable  that  like  questions  had 

2  As  early  as  1563,  Dr.  Turner,  been  asked,  in  a  private  way,  be- 
the  Dean  of  Wells,  called  in  question  fore  the  rigors  adopted  in  1564-5; 
the  office  of  bishop  as  it  existed  in  particularly  in  the  circle  of  those 
the  English  Church.     "  Who  gave  who  had  been  conversant  with  the 
bishops  authority  more  over  me,  than  Geneva  school.     But  I  do  not  find 
I  over  them,   either  to  forbid  me  such  opinions  given  out  in  a  way 
preaching,  or  to  deprive  me,  unless  to    attract  public    attention,    until 
they  have  it  from  their  Holy  Father  provoked  by  persecution  and  pro- 
the  Pope  ?  "  (Strype's  Parker,  151.)  pounded  by  Cartwright. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PAKLIAMENT   OF  1572.  411 

preach  the  Word  of  God  and  to  pray,  deacons  to  be 
employed  in  taking  care  of  the  poor. 

3.  That  the  government  of  the  Church  ought  not 
to  be  entrusted  to  bishops'  chancellors,  or  the  offi 
cials  of  archdeacons ;  but  every  church  ought  to  be 
governed  by  its  own  ministers  and  presbyters. 

4.  That  ministers  ought  not  to  be  at  large  ;  but 
every  one  should  have  the  charge  of  a   particular 
congregation. 

5.  That  no  man  ought  to  solicit,  or  to  stand  as  a 
candidate  for  the  ministry. 

6.  That  ministers  ought  not  to  be  created  by  the 
sole  authority  of  the   bishop ; l    but   to   be   openly 
and  fairly  chosen  by  the  people.2 

In  addition  to  these  propositions,  other  opinions 
were  incidentally  expressed  in  his  lectures,  some  of 
which  were  as  follows  :  that  in  reforming  the  Church 
it  is  necessary  to  reduce  all  things  to  the  apostolic 
institution;  that  no  man  ought  to  be  admitted  to 
the  ministry  who  is  not  capable  of  preaching ;  that 
Popish  ordinations  are  not  valid;  that  only  canoni 
cal  Scripture  ought  to  be  read  in  the  churches ;  that 
equal  reverence  is  due  to  all  canonical  Scripture, 
and  therefore  there  is  no  reason  why  the  people 
should  stand  only  at  the  reading  of  the  Gospel; 
that  equal  reverence  is  due  to  all  the  names  of  God, 
and  therefore  there  is  no  reason  why  the  people 
should  bow  only  at  the  name  of  Jesus ;  that  it  is 
as  lawful  to  sit  at  the  Lord's  table  as  to  kneel  or 
stand ;  that  the  Lord's  Supper  ought  not  to  be 
administered  in  private,  nor  baptism,  by  women  or 

1  Neal   has   it — "by    civil    au-        2  Neal,  I.  114.     Brook,  II.  140. 
thority." 


412  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

lay  persons ;  that  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism  is 
superstitious ;  that  it  is  reasonable  and  proper,  that 
a  parent  should  offer  his  own  child  in  baptism,  mak 
ing  a  confession  of  that  faith  in  which  he  intends 
to  educate  it,  without  being  obliged  to  answer  in  the 
child's  name,  "I  will,"  "I  will  not/'  "I  believe,"  &c., 
nor  ought  it  to  be  allowed  that  women,  or  persons 
under  age,  should  be  sponsors ;  that  the  observation 
of  Lent,  and  fasting  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays,  is 
superstitious  ;  that  trading  or  keeping  markets  on 
the  Lord's  day  is  unlawful ;  that  in  ordaining  min 
isters,  the  pronouncing  of  those  words,  "  Keceive 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  is  ridiculous  and  wicked.1 

We  see  here,  not  the  opinions  of  Cartwright  only, 
but,  by  contrast,  the  opinions  and  practices  of  the 
Church  to  which  all  these  statements  were  in  oppo 
sition. 

For  the  maintenance  of  these  "  heterodoxies  and 
misrepresentations,"  as  Collier  calls  them,  these  "  un 
true,  dangerous,  and  seditious  propositions,  tending 
to  the  ruin  of  learning  and  religion,"  Cartwright  was 
deprived  of  his  lecture  and  professorship,  and  ex 
pelled  from  the  University.  Doctor  John  Whitgift, 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but  now  Vice- 
Chancellor  of  the  University,  was  his  chief  perse 
cutor  ;  and,  w^hen  he  had  taken  away  his  means  of 
livelihood,  had  the  gracelessness  to  upbraid  him 
with  "  going  up  and  down,  doing  no  good,  and  living 
at  other  men's  tables  "  ! 

"  That  I  wras  not  idle,"  said  Cartwright,  "  he  knew 
well.  Whether  I  was  well  occupied,  or  no,  let  it  be 
judged.  I  lived,  indeed,  at  other  men's  tables,  having 

1  Neal,  I.  114.     Brook,  II.  141. 


Ce.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  413 

no  house  nor  wife ;  but  not  without  their  desire, 
and  with  small  delight  of  mine,  for  fear  of  evil 
tongues.  And  although  I  were  not  able  to  requite 
it,  yet  toward  some  I  went  about  it,  instructing  their 
children  partly  in  the  principles  of  religion,  partly  in 
other  learning." 

He  soon  went  abroad,  as  others  had  been  obliged 
to  do,  to  earn  that  bread  which  he  could  not  earn 
in  his  native  land.1 

This  was  an  important  event  in  the  history  of 
the  English  Church ;  and  its  issues  will  continually 
appear,  as  we  pursue  our  retrospective  record.  The 
views  of  Cartwright,  so  far  at  least  as  they  were 
opposed  to  the  hierarchy,  were  eagerly  embraced  by 
those  who  were  smarting  under  its  rod,  and  by 
others  who  were  in  jeopardy  for  non-conformity. 

Wandsworth  was  a  quiet  hamlet,  although  it  was 
only  four  miles  from  London.  There  might  have 
been  eight  hundred  or  a  thousand  people,  great  and 
small,  living  there  in  1571-2  ;  some  of  them  dyers; 
a  few,  mechanics  ;  but  most  of  them  farm-tenants  on 
an  humble  scale.  When  they  returned  from  the 
city,  where  they  often  went  with  their  produce  or 
wares,  they  used  to  wonder  how  people  could  live 
so  far  off,  and  in  such  a  noisy  place.  "  Certainly  the 
queen  never  would,  but  for  the  good  of  her  sub 
jects!"  They  never  had  a  more  exalted  idea  of 
her  good  sense,  than  when  her  gay  fleet  of  barges 
shot  by  them,  as  she  turned  her  back  upon  Lon 
don  to  find  fresh  air,  and  real  life,  and  the  beau 
ties  which  God  made,  at  Kichmond.  They  always 

1  Neal,  I.  115.     Brook,  H.  141-143. 


414  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

knew  when  she  was  on  her  way;  for  they  lived 
close  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  and  could 
hear  "the  drums  beating  and  the  trumpets  sound 
ing,"  which  told  of  her  progress.  Then  they  would 
drop  their  work,  and  hurry  to  the  water's  edge,  — 
the  old  man  with  his  stafi^  and  the  young  wife  with 
her  nursling  babe ;  and  when  the  royal  barge  came 
opposite,  the  bell  in  the  church  up  there  on  a  green 
knoll  would  ring  in  ecstasy;  and  the  people,  with 
their  heads  uncovered,  and  kerchiefs  waving,  would 
shout,  "  God  save  the  queen  ! "  so  stoutly,  so  heartily, 
one  would  have  thought  there  never  was  such  a 
queen.  But  when  she  leaned  forward  from  beneath 
her  canopy  and  waved  her  own  scarf  in  return,  and 
bowed,  and  smiled,  "was  there  ever  such  a  queen?" 
Their  good  minister  —  aftenuards  minister  at  Alder- 
mary  Church  in  London1 — used  to  stand  there  with 
them  upon  such  occasions.  No  one  of  them  cried, 
"God  save  the  queen!"  more  stoutly  or  more  de 
voutly  than  he.  Nevertheless,  this  John  Field  was 
a  Puritan.2  Like  many  of  his  non-conforming  breth 
ren,  he  had  adopted  the  opinions  of  Cartwright,  and 
resented  the  subscription  contrary  to  the  intent  of 
the  statute,  by  which  the  Puritans  were  persecuted 
anew.  But  this  did  not  abate  his  loyalty. 

One  mild  afternoon  about  the  middle  of  April, 
1572,  his  good  friend,  Mr.  Thomas  Wilcox,  had  come 
from  London  to  visit  him;  and  they  were  sitting 
together  in  a  rustic  arbor  of  Mr.  Field's  little  garden, 
talking  heartily,  as  brother  ministers  always  do  when 

1  Compare    Neal,    I.    121,    and        2  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VIE.  Sec.  3. 
Brook,  I.  322,  and  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.     Brook,  I.  318  -  324. 
VII.  Sec.  3.     Neal  is  mistaken. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  415 

by  themselves.  Wilcox  was  "  a  learned,  zealous,  and 
useful  preacher  in  Honeywell  Lane."  He  was  a 
young  man,  not  more  than  twenty-three  or  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  but  in  high  repute  for  piety  and 
talent.1  Like  Mr.  Field,  he  was  married,  was  a 
father,  and  a  Puritan.  So  there  were  many  matters 
on  which  they  sympathized.  They  had  been  con 
versing  for  some  time  about  the  astounding  and 
arbitrary  perversion  of  the  late  law  of  Parliament 
requiring  subscription  from  certain  of  the  cler 
gy,  when  Mr.  Wilcox  exclaimed  with  vehemence  : 
"  There  is  no  hope  from  her  Majesty.  There  is  no 
hope  from  the  bishops,  or  the  Convocation.  This 
tyranny  will  not  be  minished.  Brother !  let  us  re 
nounce  this  Antichristian  lordship !  Let  us  establish 
for  ourselves  a  church  order  after  the  apostolical 
model,  and  leave  the  issues  with  God." 

"  It  would  be  crushed  to  powder." 

"Nay;  be  not  faithless,  but  believing.  There  be 
no  necessity  laid  upon  us  to  proclaim  our  deed. 
Think  you  the  Church  of  Galatia,  or  of  Ephesus, 
went  to  the  priests  of  Diana,  or  of  Jupiter,  and  told 
them  of  their  secret  assemblies  ?  " 

"  Prithee,  brother !  an  you  frame  your  purer  disci 
pline,  and  the  bruit  of  it  be  not  heard,  what  will 
it  profit?  We  escape  not  the  rule  of  the  Church 
established,  with  her  bishops  and  archbishops,  her 
Liturgy  and  her  saints'  days.  Wherewithal  will  our 
yoke  be  lightened  ?  " 

"At  least,  we  can  have  our  deacons  and  our 
elders;  and  they  chosen  by  the  people,  instead  of 
being  thrust  upon  them." 

1  Brook,  II.  185. 


416  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

"  And  the  same  not  known  ?  " 

"  We  can  devise  some  way." 

"  And  when  a  congregation,  having  no  minister, 
doth  elect  one  to  their  own  liking,  how  prefer  him 
to  the  benefice  so  as  he  can  claim  the  living  ? " 

"  Let  the  congregation  choose ;  let  the  presbytery 
examine  and  approve.  Then  is  he  a  minister  called 
according  to  the  rule  of  the  Gospel.  After  that,  let 
him  apply  to  the  Bishop  for  the  imposition  of  hands. 
It  will  not  mar  his  calling,  while  it  qualifieth  him  in 
the  eye  of  the  law." 

"And  the  patron?" 

"Let  our  classes  ply  their  influence  with  patrons 
to  present  to  the  livings  whom  the  churches  elect." 

"An  your  elder  elect  believe,  as  many  do,  that 
the  imposition  of  hands  by  one  not  himself  rightly 
called  to  his  bishopric  hath  no  virtue,  what  then  ?  " 

u  Let  him  cross  the  sea  and  take  ordination  in  the 
Reformed  churches  there.  By  the  same  late  law 
which  requireth  subscription  to  doctrine,  that  be 
counted  true  ordination,  I  trow." l 

"Troth!  The  like  be  subscribing  the  Articles 
which  only  concern  the  true  Christian  faith  and  the 
doctrines  of  the  sacraments.  Sith  they  deny  that 
6  only '  meaneth  '  only/  they  need  not  exceed  them 
selves  to  say,  that  ordination  save  by  a  lord  bishop 
be  no  ordination,  —  maugre  the  law." 

"  They  have  already  allowed  that  the  imposition  of 
hands  of  a  presbytery  is  ordination ;  because  they 
require  not,  of  those  who  have  received  it,  the  hands 
of  a  bishop,  but  subscription  only? 

Mr.   Field  mused;  and  Mr.  Wilcox  kept  silence 

1  Neal,  I.  114,  note. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  417 

that  he  might  muse.  Several  minutes  passed  thus 
before  Mr.  Field  replied:  "You  have  an  inventive 
head,  of  a  truth,  brother !  Moreover,  in  the  inven 
tion,  there  be  no  lack  of  fair  seeming.  Nevertheless, 
there  be  one  hope  of  remedy  that  you  have  not 
propounded.  Methinks  it  should  be  tried  first." 

"  Marry !  nominate  it.  Mine  ear  itcheth,"  —  with 
a  short  ironic  laugh. 

«  Parliament." 

«  Doubtful,"  muttered  Wilcox. 

"  Possible.  Be  not  faithless,  but  believing ;  so  you 
just  said  to  me." 

a  Granted,  — possible" 

"  We  can  make  interest  among  the  members." 1 

"But  the  bishops?" 

"  Outvote  them." 

"  The  queen.  To  the  smallest  bill  for  reform,  an 
she  saith, '  La  Koigne  s'advisera/  what  then  ?  Your 
bill  proveth  a  castle  in  the  air." 

"  Be  it  so.  Then  we  can  try  if  your  plan  hath 
substance,  or  be  a  phantom.  We  can  do  it  with  a 
better  seeming,  and  a  better  conscience,  when  the 
last  hope  by  other  means  hath  failed." 

"  How  will  you  move  Parliament  ?  " 

"  I  would  lay  before  them  a  plan  for  establishing 
the  Church  according  to  the  plan  of  presbytery,  as  in 
the  primitive  Church,  —  as  in  the  Church  of  Geneva. 
I  would  prove  to  them  how  ministers  should  be 
chosen,  and  how  deacons;  how  they  should  be  set 
apart  to  their  offices ;  what  be  their  duties ;  and  how 
all  elders,  each  being  bishop  over  his  own  congrega 
tion,  should  be  of  equal  and  joint  authority  in  the  gov- 


1  Neal,  I.  121. 
VOL.  i.  53 


418  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

eminent  of  the  Church  at  large.  I  would  tell  them, 
too,  how  corrupt  is  the  present  government  of  the 
Church;  how  the  shepherds  that  be,  keep  not  the 
wolf  from  the  fold ;  how  they  care  more  for  the  bell 
on  the  wether's  neck,  or  the  mark  of  the  cross  on 
the  fleece,  than  for  the  feeding  or  housing  of  the 
sheep ;  how  they  put  the  crib  so  high  that  the  lambs 
can  get  no  fodder ;  and  how  they  scatter  and  beggar 
and  imprison  the  under-shepherds  who  cannot  say 
Shibboleth,  or  who  lack  gay  gear.  I  would  tell 
them,  and  prove  it  withal,  that  bishops,  as  they 
make  them  to  be,  are  contrary  to  the  Gospel.  And, 
in  fine,  I  would  entreat  that  discipline  more  after 
God's  Word,  and  agreeable  to  the  foreign  Eeformed 
churches,  may  be  established  by  law." l 

"  Will  you  draw  up  such  a  paper  ?  " 

"With  God's  help  and  yours." 

"Why  mine?" 

"  In  sooth, '  two  be  better  than  one,  because  they 
have  a  good  reward  for  their  labor ;  and  a  threefold 
cord  is  not  easily  broken.'  Besides,  time  presseth. 
Parliament  will  soon  assemble.  We  have  to  bestir 
the  members  in  our  behalf;  we  must  draw  up  our 
complaint  and  prayer  with  painful  carefulness;  we 
must  have  other  brethren  to  revise  and  approve  it." 

And  thus  it  was  agreed.  They  were  to  prepare  each 
his  part ;  they  were  to  meet  again,  form  their  separate 
writings  into  one  ;  and,  if  approved  by  their  brethren, 
to  present  it  to  Parliament.  Whereupon  they  parted ; 
and  Wilcox,  in  a  little  boat,  glided  down  to  London. 

A  new  Parliament  was  assembled  on  the  8th  of 

1  Neal,  I.  121.     Brook,  I.  319. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF   1572.  419 

May,  1572.  In  his  opening  speech,  the  Lord  Keeper 
recognized  the  scarcity  and  unfitness  of  the  minis 
ters  of  the  Church ;  evils  which,  he  said,  it  behooved 
the  bishops  speedily,  diligently,  and  carefully  to  rec 
tify.  He  censured  the  indolence  and  timidity  of 
ecclesiastical  officers  in  not  duly  executing  discipline. 
"  In  consequence  of  this  negligence,"  he  added,  "  the 
laudable  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  the  very 
ornaments  of  our  religion,  are  ill  kept,  or  at  least  have 
lost  a  great  part  of  their  estimation ;  and  the  com 
mon  people  in  the  country  universally  come  seldom 
to  Common  Prayer  and  Divine  service."  He  recom 
mended  a  plan  for  a  systematic  and  vigorous  enforce 
ment  of  the  ecclesiastical  laws ;  advising,  in  addition, 
"  that  the  bishops  should  devise  and  exhibit  to  Parlia 
ment  temporal  acts  for  the  amending  and  reforming 
of  these  lacks,  that  thus  the  civil  sword  might  sup 
port  the  sword  ecclesiastic."  In  regard  to  affairs 
strictly  civil,  he  said  that  the  greatest  which  con 
cerned  them  was  "the  defence  against  the  foreign 
enemy  abroad  and  his  confederates  brought  up  and 
bred  among  themselves." *  This  last  point  it  is  ne 
cessary  to  explain. 

From  the  time  when  she  took  refuge  in  England 
from  her  rebellious  subjects,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
had  been  held  as  a  prisoner  of  state  by  her  royal 
kinswoman.  As  soon  as  this  her  true  situation  be 
came  evident,  her  name  was  made  the  fulcrum  on 
which  to  rest  all  the  plots  of  the  religious  and  politi 
cal  enemies  of  Elizabeth.2  Of  this,  she  and  her 
ministers  were  aware ;  and,  when  too  late,  they  had 

1  D'Ewes,  192-195. 

2  Norris  to  Cecil;  Haynes,  466.     Camden,  179. 


420  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

heartily  regretted  their  error  in  making  Mary  their 
captive,  and  as  heartily  wished  her  out  of  the  realm.1 
At  length,  in  1571,  Mary,  justly  irritated  by  her  pro 
tracted  wrongs,  and  despairing  of  relief  at  the  hands 
of  her  captor,2  had  assented  to  a  plot  for  an  invasion 
of  England,  and  for  a  domestic  insurrection  in  con 
cert,  which  had  for  its  object  the  overturning  of  the 
government  of  Elizabeth  and  the  instating  of  herself 
in  her  room.  Ridolpho,  the  Florentine,  was  the 
agent  in  England  of  the  conspiracy.  A  leader  was 
needed,  however,  of  noble  blood,  and  of  influence 
among  the  people,  to  head  the  insurrection  at  home.3 
The  power,  rank,  and  popularity  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  were  sufficient  recommendations  to  Ridol 
pho.  Taking  advantage  of  the  fact,  that  this  noble 
man  had  fallen  from  the  royal  favor  and  confidence, 
and  that  he  was  smarting  under  the  disgrace  of  a  late 
imprisonment,  the  foreigner  succeeded  in  entangling 
him,  to  some  extent  at  least,  in  this  nefarious  scheme, 
which  included  an  engagement  of  marriage  between 
the  Duke  and  the  Scottish  queen.4  Ridolpho  then 
left  the  kingdom  to  notify  the  Pope  and  the  king  of 
Spain  that  preparations  were  ripe  in  England,  and 
to  move  them  to  action.5  These  two  potentates  were 
the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy. 

"  M.  Mignet  has  recently  brought  to  light  some 
remarkable  facts.  On  the  28th  of  June.  1570,  a 
letter  from  Pius  V.  was  presented  to  Philip  II.  by 
an  agent  just  arrived  from  Rome.  '  Our  dear  son, 

1  Hayncs,    4G7;    Norris    to    Ce-         3  Ibid.,  157. 

cil.      Cabala,    138,    155 ;    Cecil  to         4  Ibid.,   157.     Lingard,  VIII.  86. 
Norris.  5  Lodge,    II.    53  ;    Burleigh     to 

2  Camden,  156.  Shrewsbury.     Camden,  179. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  421 

Robert  Ridolfi,'  says  the  writer,  'will  explain  (God 
willing)  to  your  Majesty  certain  matters  which  con 
cern  not  a  little  the  honor  of  Almighty  God 

We  conjure  your  Majesty  to  take  into  serious  con 
sideration  the  matter  which  he  will  lay  before  you, 
and  to  furnish  him  with  all  the  means  your  Majesty 
may  judge  most  proper  for  its  execution.'  The 
Pope's  '  dear  son/  accordingly,  explained  to  the 
Duke  of  Feria,  who  was  commissioned  by  Philip  to 
receive  his  communication,  'that  it  was  proposed 
to  kill  Queen  Elizabeth ;  that  the  attempt  would  not 
be  made  in  London,  because  it  was  the  seat  of  her 
esy,  but  during  one  of  her  journeys ;  and  that  a  cer 
tain  James  G would  undertake  it.'  The  same 

day,  the  Council  met  and  deliberated  on  Elizabeth's 
assassination.  Philip  declared  his  willingness  to  un 
dertake  the  foul  deed  recommended  by  his  Holiness ; 
but,  as  it  would  be  an  expensive  business,  his  minis 
ters  hinted  to  the  nuncio,  that  the  Pope  ought  to 
furnish  the  money."  l 

Philip  had  been  provoked  by  Elizabeth's  seizure  of 
certain  ships  of  his  containing  treasure ; 2  and  was 
further  stimulated  by  his  zeal  for  the  Catholic  faith. 
He  was  also  encouraged  by  the  spirituality  and  the 
religious  houses  of  his  kingdom,  who  pledged  him 
two  millions  of  ducats  for  the  enterprise ;  for  four 
hundred  thousand  of  which  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo 
alone  made  himself  responsible.3  Nor  was  Pius  Y. 
behindhand  in  the  business ;  but  entered  into  it  with 

1  "  The  details  of  this  affair  may        2  Camden,  179. 
be  found  in  the  Historic  de  Marie        3  Murdin,  221 ;  letter  from  Spain 
Stuart,  by  Mignet,  Vol.  II.  p.  159,    to  Lord  Burleigh. 
&c."  —  D'Aubigne,  V.  Preface,  pp. 
vii.,  viii. 


422  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

apostolic  zeal,  promising  Philip  to  pawn,  if  neces 
sary,  all  the  goods  of  his  see,  to  its  very  chalices,  cross 
es,  and  sacred  vestments,  to  further  the  enterprise 
of  invasion,  —  an  enterprise  so  holy,  so  acceptable 
to  God,  so  beneficial  to  the  Church  and  to  a  world 
lying  in  wickedness.1  The  plan  was,  to  operate  upon 
England  by  a  Spanish  army  from  the  Netherlands,  — 
four  thousand  horse  and  six  thousand  foot.  It  was 
confidently  believed  that  there  were  enough  of  the 
queen's  disaffected  subjects  who  would  effect  an  effi 
cient  rising  in  favor  of  the  invaders  the  moment  they 
should  land  at  Harwick,  the  port  agreed  upon  ;  and 
that  the  queen's  parsimony  and  the  effeminacy  of 
her  people  would  render  her  throne  an  easy  prey.2 
"  Never,"  said  Philip  to  Cardinal  Alexandrino,  "never 
was  any  conspiracy  entered  into  with  better  advice, 
nor  with  greater  consent  and  constancy  concealed, 
which  in  so  long  a  time  was  never  discovered  by  any 
of  the  conspirators.  Forces  might  in  four  and  twenty 
hours'  time  have  easily  been  transported  out  of  the 
Netherlands,  which  might  at  unawares  have  sur 
prised  the  queen  and  the  city  of  London,  restored 
religion,  and  established  the  Queen  of  Scots  on  the 
throne.3 

But  the  conspiracy  was  discovered  in  the  hour  of 
its  ripeness,  in  the  summer  of  157 1,4  to  the  great 
consternation  of  the  Privy  Council.  They  were  in- 


1  The  Life  of  Pius  V.  by  Hierono  2  Murdin,  222 ;  letter  to  Burleigh. 

mo  Catena,   Secretary  to   Cardinal  Camden,  157. 

Alexandrino,  the  Pope's  "  nephew."  3  Hieronomo  Catena. 

Published  with  "  the  Privilege  "  of  4  Digges's  "  Complete    Ambassa- 

Sixtus  V.,  in  1588.     Camden,  180.  dor,"    107.      Harleian    Miscellany, 

Lingard  does  not  notice  this  mate-  11.460-462. 
rial  witness. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  423 

stantly  busied  day  and  night  at  the  Tower  in  ferret 
ing  it  out,  by  the  examination  of  those  whom  they 
had  seized.1  The  queen  ordered  that  certain  of  the 
examinates  "should  find  taste  of  the  rack,  if  fear 
thereof  should  not  move  them  to  utter  knowledge."  2 
Norfolk  was  immediately  committed  to  the  Tower; 
and  in  January,  1571-2,  was  tried  for  high  treason, 
and  unanimously  condemned  by  a  jury  of  his  peers.3 

Such  were  the  transactions  which  occasioned  the 
Parliament  of  1572 ;  "  chiefly  called  for  consultation 
and  deliberation  touching  the  dangers  of  her  Majesty 
and  the  realm  by  reason  of  the  Scottish  queen." 4 

The  whole  nation  was  in  a  ferment ;  the  Catholics 
apprehensive  that  the  discovery  of  such  a  plot  would 
entail  greater  severities  upon  the  Queen  of  Scots 
and  upon  themselves ;  the  Protestants  alarmed  and 
indignant  at  such  peril  to  crown,  realm,  and  religion, 
and  convinced  that  there  would  be  no  safety  for 
either  so  long  as  Mary  should  live.  These  latter 
opinions  swayed  the  Parliament,  and  in  the  House 
of  Commons  were  universal.5 

Immediately  after  the  Lord  Keeper's  opening 
speech,  Robert  Bell,  Esq.,  of  the  Middle  Temple, 
London,  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  Commons,  —  the 
same  who  was  so  frighted  by  the  Council  in  the 
time  of  the  last  Parliament.  On  Saturday,  the  10th, 
he  was  u  presented,  accepted,  and  allowed."  On 
Monday,  the  12th,  the  very  first  business  day  after 


1  Lodge,  II.  56.     Wright,  I.  392,  5  "  All  men  now  cry  out  of  your 
note.  prisoner,"  wrote  Burleigh,  under  date 

2  Ellis,  1st  Series,  II.  261.  of  September  7,  1572,  to  the  Earl  of 
8  Wright,  I.  392.     Hume,  III.  86.  Shrewsbury,  Mary's  keeper.    Lodge, 
4  D'Ewes,  204,  225.  II.  75. 


424 


THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND 


[Cn.  XV. 


the  organization  of  Parliament,  both  Houses  entered 
at  once  upon  "  The  Great  Cause/'  by  appointing,  at 
the  queen's  commandment,  a  large  joint  committee 
for  "  deliberation  and  consultation."  Report  of  the 
doings  of  this  committee  was  made  to  the  Commons 
on  the  19th;  immediately  upon  which  the  House 
resolved,  "That  for  the  safety  and  preservation  of 
the  queen's  person  and  of  the  realm,  proceedings 
ought  to  be  had  against  the  Scottish  queen  in  the 
highest  degree  of  treason,1  and  that  of  necessity  with 


1  The  proceedings  against  the 
Queen  of  Scots  for  treason,  and  like 
proceedings  against  John  Story,  ap 
pear  oddly  when  brought  into  jux 
taposition. 

Story  has  been  mentioned  (Chap. 
VI.)  as  a  malignant  persecutor  un 
der  Mary  of  England;  as  boasting 
of  it  in  his  opposition  to  the  Bill 
for  Uniformity ;  and  as  entering  the 
service  of  the  Duke  of  Alva.  "  Like 
cup,  like  cover,"  says  Fuller.  In 
his  new  home,  he  repudiated  his 
native  country,  devoting  himself 
to  Alva's  schemes  against  England 
with  all  the  venom  of  a  fanatic  and 
a  renegade.  The  Duke  make  Eng 
lish  merchandise  contraband  at  Ant 
werp,  and  Story  was  his  zealous 
agent  in  searching  for  it.  He  did 
this  with  so  much  vigor  and  cruelty, 
that  his  person  was  inordinately 
coveted  by  English  merchants,  who 
set  a  trap  to  catch  him.  One  Par 
ker  entered  the  port  of  Antwerp 
and  suborned  men  to  whisper  that 
there  were  Bibles  and  other  hereti 
cal  books  on  board  ;  a  sort  of  goods 
for  which  Story  was  particularly 
voracious.  No  terrier  ever  rushed 
upon  a  haunt  of  vermin  with  more 


eagerness  than  did  Story  beneath 
the  deck  of  the  English  skipper. 
The  hatches  were  shut  upon  him ; 
and  when  he  next  saw  sunlight,  it 
was  under  his  native  sky  at  Yar 
mouth.  He  was  tried  and  con 
demned  for  high  treason  ;  and  in 
June,  1571,  executed.  On  his  trial 
he  was  charged  with  having  con 
spired  against  the  life  of  the  queen 
and  for  the  invasion  of  her  kingdom. 
The  question  was,  whether,  these 
things  being  true,  he  was  guilty  of 
treason.  He  denied  that  he  was; 
and  on  this  ground,  —  that  he  was 
no  sworn  subject  to  the  queen  of 
England,  but  to  the  king  of  Spain. 
He  was  tried  and  sentenced,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  English-born, 
and  that  no  man  can  renounce  sub 
jection  to  his  native  government. 
(Digges,  105  ;  Burleigh  to  Walsing- 
ham.  Zurich  Letters,  No.  CLV; 
Horn  to  Bullinger.  Fuller,  Bk.  IX. 
p.  84.  Camden,  123,  168.  Hol- 
ingshed,  IV.  260.  Fox,  III.  1023. 
Strype's  Annals,  III.  124;  Parker, 
464.  Mackintosh,  I.  369.) 

One  would  think  that,  if  Story 
could  not  shake  off  allegiance  by 
voluntary  expatriation,  Mary  could 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  425 

all  possible  speed"  This  was  passed  "by  the  voice  of 
the  whole  House."  *  On  the  21st,  this  resolve  was 
sent  to  the  Upper  House,  with  request  "to  know  their 
lordships'  liking"  of  the  same;  to  which  immediate 
answer  was  returned,  "  that  they  had  themselves  re 
solved  in  the  Great  Cause  much  to  the  like  effect ; 
and  that,  for  better  and  more  speedy  proceeding 
therein,  they  did  pray  immediate  conference  with 
the  previous  committee  of  the.  House."  The  Com 
mons  thereupon  directed  the  committee  accordingly.2 
The  second  day  after,  Mr.  Comptroller  declared 
from  her  Majesty,  "that  she  did  thankfully  accept 
the  care  of  the  House  for  her  safety ;  but  that, 
partly  in  honor  and  partly  in  conscience,  it  was  her 
mind  to  defer,  though  not  to  reject,  the  determina 
tion  for  a  bill  against  the  Scottish  queen  for  high 
treason,  and  that  she  liked  better  with  all  convenient 
speed  proceeding  should  be  had  in  a  second  bill,3 
which  should  be  only  to  disable  the  Scottish  queen 
for  any  claim  or  title  to  the  crown."4  The  Com 
mons  instantly  resolved,  "  That  nevertheless,  with 
one  whole  voice  and  consent,  they  did  still  rely  upon 
the  proceeding  for  high  treason  as  most  necessary; 

not  acquire  allegiance  by  involun-  had  done  treason,  a  fortiori  she,  the 

tary  expatriation ;   that  if  Story,  a  queen,  owed  no  allegiance  to  Eng- 

native-born  Englishman,  could  not  land,   and   therefore   had  done   no 

transfer   fealty  to    Spain,   Mary,  a  treason. 

native-born  Scotchwoman,  could  not  But  as  we  see  in  13  Eliz.  Cap.  II. 

have  fealty  to  England  thrust  upon  any  act  was  created  treason  in  those 

her ;  that  if  Story,  by  birth  a  sub-  days,  as  it  suited  the  convenience  of 

ject,  could  not   become   a  subject  the  law-makers. 

elsewhere  by  oath,  Mary,  by  birth  a  l  D'Ewes,  206,  207. 

sovereign  princess,  could  not  become  2  Ibid.,  213. 

a  subject    elsewhere  without  oath.  3  Ibid.,  213. 

If  he,  the  subject,  still  owed  alle-  *  Ibid.,  216. 

giance   to   England,  and   therefore 

VOL.   I.  54 


426  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

without  any  liking  or  allowance  of  the  other  propo 
sition."  This  resolve  they  sent  immediately  to  the 
Lords,  requesting  that,  if  they  concurred  therein, 
further  conference  might  be  had.  The  next  day  — 
the  24th  —  the  Lords  replied,  "  that  they  did  like 
well  and  approve  of  the  opinion  of  the  Commons, 
and  would  join  in  committees  of  conference  in  the 
afternoon  in  the  Star-Chamber."  l  The  result  was 
that  on  Wednesday  —  the  28th  —  these  committees 
waited  upon  her  Majesty,  by  her  appointment,  to 
lay  before  her  "  The  Eeasons  for  their  Opinion  touch 
ing  the  Great  Cause." 2 

We  have  given  this  very  succinct  account,  that  it 
may  appear  how  ripe  for  action  the  Parliament  were 
at  their  very  assembling;  and  that  both  Houses 
were  of  one  mind,  of  like  diligence,  and  like  zeal. 
In  the  Commons  there  were  " sundry  speeches"; 
but,  it  would  seem,  no  debate,  no  difference  of  opin 
ion.  The  Catholic  peers,  doubtless,  dissented  from  a 
purpose  of  blood  against  the  orthodox  heir  presump 
tive  to  the  throne ;  but,  with  this  exception,  the  bent 
of  the  whole  Parliament  was  for  the  swift  execution 
of  one  on  whose  account  —  to  say  the  least  —  the 
kingdom  was  in  constant  peril.  The  devoted  and 
clear-headed  Cecil,  —  now  Lord  Burleigh,  —  in  whose 
mental  conflicts  self-possession  never  struck  flag  to 
passion,  was  "overthrown  in  heart,  with  no  spark 
almost  of  good  spirits  left  to  nourish  health  in  his 
body  "  ;  yet  not  so  much  for  a  danger  which  he  was 
ready  to  grapple  by  the  beard,  as  for  the  temporizing 
policy  of  the  queen  by  which  he  was  held  in  check. 
"There  can  be  no  greater  soundness  than  is  in  the 

1  D'Ewes,  214.  a  Ibid.,  215. 


Cn.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1572.  427 

Commons'  House,"  said  he.  "  and  no  lack  appeareth 
in  the  Upper  House;  but  in  the  highest  person 
such  slowness  in  the  offers  of  surety/'  —  i.  e.  the 
execution  of  Mary  and  of  Norfolk,  —  "  and  such  stay 
in  resolution,  as  it  seemeth  God  is  not  pleased  that 
the  surety  shall  succeed."1 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Puritans  were  of 
importance  in  this  House  of  Commons;  for  in  the 
next  session,  in  1575-6,  of  this  same  Parliament, — 
which  was  continued  for  eleven  years,2  —  their  voice 
was  distinctly  heard.  Nor  can  we  suppose  that  they 
were  behind  the  Precisians  of  the  Church  in  zealous 
promotion  of  vital  measures  against  Mary.  But  to 
attribute  the  act  which  passed  against  her  in  both 
Houses,3  the  reasonings  by  which  it  was  sustained, 
and  the  queen's  "forbearing  to  allow  it,"  all  solely, 
or  even  chiefly,  to  u  their  prevalence  in  the  House," 
and  their  "  intemperance,"  is  both  untrue,  and  in  the 
face  of  known  facts.4  In  the  prosecution  of  these 


1  Digges,  203  ;  Burleigh  to  Wai-  Testament " ;  and  lie  insinuates  that 
singham,  21  May  1572.  the  queen  would  not  accede  to  the 

2  D'Ewes,  226,  277,  310.  application,  because   "she  so  little 

3  Ibid.,  204.  loved  the  sect."     All  this  is  unfor- 

4  I  here  refer  to  Hume,  III.  87.  tunate. 

He  says,  "  The  Commons  made  a  The  use  of  the  "  authorities " 
direct  application  for  the  immediate  would  equally  argue  a  prevalence 
trial  and  execution "  of  Mary.  So  of  Puritanical  interest  among  the 
they  did ;  but  the  application  was  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal ;  for 
from  the  Lords  and  the  Commons,  —  both  Houses  reasoned  alike,  and 
which,  as  he  uses  it,  alters  the  case  sanctioned  the  papers  presented, 
entirely.  Burleigh 's  particular  posi-  But  again.  The  Apocryphal 
tion  he  wholly  overlooks.  He  adds,  Books  of  the  Old  Testament  —  be- 
"  Nothing  could  be  a  stronger  cause  unknown  in  the  Hebrew  Ian- 
proof  that  the  Puritanical  interest  guage  ;  because  .never  received  into 
prevailed  in  the  House,  than  the  in-  the  sacred  canon  by  the  Jewish 
temperate  use  of  authorities  derived  Church,  and  therefore  never  sanc- 
from  Scripture,  especially  the  Old  tioned  by  our  Saviour ;  and  because 


428 


THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND 


[On.  XV. 


measures,  the  Precisian  of  the  Church  and  the  Puri 
tan  forgot  their  differences,  and  stood  as  one  man 
against  the  milder  proposition  of  the  queen.  In  the 
Upper  House,  the  bishop  joined  with  the  temporal 
lord,  and  both  seconded  the  Puritan  of  the  Commons, 
in  "  exciting  the  prince  to  cruelty  and  blood,  contrary 
to  her  merciful  inclinations  " ; l  and  if  there  was  not 
literal  unanimity  among  the  lords,  there  were  hot 


unknown  in  the  Christian  canon  of 
Scriptures  until  more  than  four  hun 
dred  years  after  Christ  (Home's 
Introduction,  I.  027,  628) — were  not 
allowed  by  the  Puritans  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth  to  be  of  any  authority. 
They  disliked  that  they  should  be 
even  read  in  the  churches ;  and 
made  it  one  of  their  prominent  ob 
jections  to  the  established  service, 
that  the  reading  of  them  was  re 
quired.  A  Puritan  might  quote 
Aristotle  or  Cicero  to  illustrate  a 
principle  in  law  or  morals ;  but  he 
would  no  sooner  quote  "  The  Wis 
dom  of  Solomon,"  or  "  Ecclesiasti- 
cus,"  than  he  would  a  heathen 
classic,  to  prove  a  civil  or  a  religious 
duty.  Yet  both  these  apocryphal 
books  are  cited  as  "  authorities  "  in 
the  document  to  which  Hume  refers. 
However,  therefore,  the  Puritanical 
interest  may  have  prevailed  in  the 
Commons,  and  however  the  Puritans 
may  have  joined  in  the  application, 
it  is  clear  from  the  paper  itself,  that 
it  must  have  been/rawet/  by  Church 
men  ;  and  the  sneer  of  the  historian 
is  wasted. 

Apropos :  a  word  to  balance  the 
ridicule  so  freely  bestowed  upon  the 
Puritans  for  their  deductions  from 
Old  Testament  Scriptures.  Two 
instances  will  suffice.  "The  pun 


ishment  for  high  treason,"  argued 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  "  is  warranted  by 
divers  examples  in  Scripture;  for 
Joab  was  drawn,  Bithan  was  hanged, 
Judas  was  embowelled " !  (Black- 
stone,  IV.  92,  note  fc.)  Another 
notable  instance :  Mr.  Barwick,  a 
clergyman  of  the  Established  Church, 
and  not  a  Puritan,  proved  that  God 
delights  in  mediocrity  thus :  "  Man 
was  put  into  the  midst  of  Paradise. 
A  rib  was  taken  out  of  the  midst  of 
man.  The  Israelites  went  through 
the  midst  of  the  Eed  Sea  and  of 
Jordan.  Samson  put  firebrands  in 
the  midst,  between  the  foxes'  tails. 
David's  men  had  their  garments  cut 
off  by  the  midst.  Christ  was  hanged 
in  the  midst,  between  two  thieves  "  ! 
(Strype's  Annals,  Oxford  edit.,  VI. 
232  ;  folio  edit.,  III.  Append.  Bk.  I. 
No.  XXIV.  p.  41.)  Were  the  Puri 
tans,  who  often  doubtless  misinter 
preted  and  misapplied  Scripture, 
sinners  and  silly  above  all  others  V 
Did  they  ever  equal  Coke  and  Bar- 
wick  ? 

The  truth  is,  the  principles  of 
hermeneutics,  especially  in  their 
application  to  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
were  very  imperfectly  understood, 
in  those  days,  by  the  learned  of  all 
parties  alike. 

1  D'Ewes,  211. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1572.  429 

zeal  and  stern  resolution  no  whit  less  than  in  the 
Commons.  Besides,  there  was  no  honester  or  hotter 
zealot  in  the  Great  Cause  than  her  Majesty's  most 
influential  minister.  So  intense  was  the  anxiety  of 
Lord  Burleigh,  —  as  stated  above,  —  so  watchful  and 
untiring  was  he  lest  Parliament  perchance  should 
divide  or  flag  in  furthering  Mary's  death,  that,  crip 
pled  and  tortured  as  he  was  by  disease,  he  would  be 
carried  before  the  queen,  that  he  might  argue  and 
persuade ;  and  to  the  senate,  that  he  might  strength 
en  and  inspire.1 

It  is  not  within  the  range  of  our  theme  to  canvass 
the  prison  history  of  Mary,  or  to  speculate  upon  her 
complicity  in  the  plot  which,  before  the  Parliament 
was  adjourned,  cost  Norfolk  his  head.  But  it  is  due 
to  her  memory  to  say,  that  if  she  did  conspire  to 
overthrow  the  power  which  thralled  her,  and  if  that 
overthrow  was  the  only  feasible  means  of  her  deliv 
erance,  she  did  but  follow  a  law  of  nature  which,  in 

1  Digges,  203  ;  Burleigh  to  Wai-  health  in  my  body,  being  every  third 

singham.  day  thrown  down  to  the  ground,  so 

I  think  it  well  to  transcribe  the  as  now  I  am  forced  to  be  carried 
letter  of  Burleigh,  previously  quoted  into  the  Parliament-House,  and  to 
in  part,  so  far  as  it  illustrates  the  her  Majesty's  presence;  and  to  la- 
subject-matters  in  hand.  ment  it  openly  is  to  give  more  com- 

"  Of  our  Parliament,  there  can  fort  to  the  adversaries.  These  are 
be  found  no  more  soundness  than  is  our  miseries,  and  such  as  I  see  no 
in  the  Commons  House,  and  no  lack  end  thereof;  and  amongst  others, 
appearing  in  the  Upper  House,  but  shame  doth  as  much  trouble  me  as 
in  the  highest  person  such  slowness  the  rest,  that  all  persons  should  be- 
in  the  offers  of  surety,  and  such  hold  our  follies  as  they  may  think, 
stay  in  resolution,  as  it  seemeth  God  imputing  these  lacks  and  errors  to 
is  not  pleased  that  the  surety  shall  some  of  us  that  are  accounted  in- 
succeed.  To  lament  that  secretly  ward  counsellors,  where  indeed  the 
I  cannot  forbear,  and  thereby  with  fault  is  not ;  and  yet  they  must  be 
it  and  such  like  I  am  overthrown  so  suffered,  and  to  be  so  imputed, 
in  heart,  as  I  have  no  spark  almost  for  saving  the  honor  of  the  highest." 
of  good  spirits  left  in  me  to  nourish 


430  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

its  true  meaning,  always  coincides  with  that  of  God. 
To  what  Nature  teaches,  an  Apostle  could  appeal.1 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  due  to  their  memory  whose 
history  is  in  hand  to  state  the  grounds  on  which,  in 
common  with  the  other  members  of  this  Parliament, 
and  with  the  masses  out  of  Parliament,  they  justified 
their  proceedings. 

The  case  admitted  of  but  two  questions.  For  the 
real  and  serious  hazards  in  which  a  wrong  policy 
had  involved  the  government  by  the  imprisonment 
of  the  refugee  queen,  was  there  any  remedy  but 
the  axe  ?  There  was  none.  The  answer  was  self- 
evident;  reached  without  process,  and  held  with 
out  doubt.  Was  this  remedy  a  righteous  one? 
In  other  words,  had  the  Queen  of  Scots  forfeited 
life  ?  did  justice  coincide  with  the  exigencies  of  the 
state?  The  Puritan  answered,  "Yes."  For  this 
answer  there  were  reasons.  Be  it  that  they  were 
false ;  in  his  mind  they  were  true.  Be  it  that  Mary 
was  innocent  of  crime ;  in  his  very  soul  he  believed 
her  proven  guilty,  "  found  so  by  the  judges  of  the 
realm."2  Be  it  that  he  was  a  lame  interpreter  of 
Scripture,  a  jaundiced  inspector  of  facts,  a  bad 
reasoner,  a  dupe  to  calumny  and  his  own  credulity, 
yet  he  acted  upon  the  best  information  he  could 
obtain,  —  upon  his  convictions.  He  was  honest. 

Because  of  her  religion,  because  of  her  religious 
allies  or  sympathizers,  because  of  her  relation  to  the 
crown,  and,  we  may  add,  because  of  the  grievous 
wrongs  done  to  her,  Mary  had  long  been  a  terror 
to  all  the  Protestants  of  England.  It  was  their  firm 
conviction,  that  "she  had  sought  and  wrought,  by 

1  1  Cor.  xi.  14.  2  D'Ewes,  215. 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT   OF  1572.  431 

all  means,  to  seduce  God's  people  in  the  realm  from 
true  religion ;  that  she  was  the  only  hope  of  all  the 
adversaries  of  God  throughout  all  Europe,,  and  the 
instrument  whereby  they  trusted  to  overthrow  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  in  all  countries,"  —  both  of  which, 
it  was  believed,  she  and  they  sought  to  do  by  sub 
verting  the  governments  ;  that  "  she  had  sought  both 
the  disinheriting  and  the  destruction  of  Elizabeth  "  ; 
that  "  she  had  heaped  up  together  all  the  sins  of 
adultery,  murder,  conspiracy,  treason,  and  blasphemy 
against  God."  l  Upon  these  premises,  over  which  in 
their  minds  there  hung  no  cloud  of  doubt,  they 
reasoned  from  Scripture  cited,  that "  her  Majesty  must 
needs  offend  in  conscience  before  God,  if  she  did  not 
punish  so  grievous  an  offender,"  — "  queen  or  sub 
ject,  stranger  or  citizen,  kin  or  not  kin,"  —  "  accord 
ing  to  the  measure  of  her  offence  in  the  highest 
degree  "  ;  an  offender,  too,  "  whom  God's  special  and 
remarkable  Providence  had  put  into  the  Queen's 
Majesty's  hands  to  be  punished  "  ;  that  "  if  such  an 
one  should  escape  with  small  punishment,  there  was 
reason  to  fear  "  —  as  most  certainly  there  was  — 
"  that  God  would  reserve  her  as  an  instrument  to  put 
the  queen  from  her  royal  seat,  and  to  plague  the 
naughty  subjects  "  ;  that  "  to  spare  one  person,  being 
an  enemy,  a  stranger,  a  professed  member  of  Anti 
christ,  and  convicted  of  so  many  heinous  crimes, 
with  the  evident  peril  of  so  many  thousands  of 
bodies  and  souls  of  good  and  faithful  subjects,  might 
justly  be  termed  cruel  compassion  "  ;  and  that  her 
Majesty  "would  be  in  danger  of  the  blood  of  God's 
people,  if  she  should  not  cut  off"  so  great  and  dan- 

1  D'Ewes,  208,  209. 


432  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

gerous  a  sinner.  "Therefore"  —  said  the  petitioners 
of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  in  their  "  Eeasons  " 
given,  —  "  as  the  Queen's  Majesty  indeed  is  merciful, 
so  we  most  humbly  desire  her  that  she  will  open  her 
mercy  towards  God's  people  and  her  good  subjects 
in  despatching  those  enemies  "  —  the  Duke  of  Nor 
folk  is  here  included  —  "  that  seek  the  confusion  of 
God's  cause  amongst  us  and  of  this  noble  realm" 1 

In  their  "Petition/'  they  argued  against  her  Ma 
jesty's  scheme  "to  proceed  only  in  disabling  the 
Scottish  queen  for  any  claim  or  title  to  the  crown/' 
that  "such  special  disabling  would  be  in  effect  a 
special  confirmation  of  a  right  she  should  have  had  " ; 
meaning,  "a  special  admission  that  a  title  had  pre 
viously  existed/'  —  and  most  shrewdly  was  this  said. 
In  proposing  this  procedure,  Elizabeth  had  by  impli 
cation —  but  as  yet  only  to  her  Parliament  —  ad 
mitted  inadvertently  that  Mary  was  in  verity  the 
next  heir  to  the  'crown.  They  argued  further,  that 
"  a  firebrand  once  kindled  and  having  matter  to  work 
upon  would  hardly  be  quenched  without  great  haz 
ard  " ;  that  "  hope  of  gain  through  Mary  would  make 
her  partisans  bold,  more  than  any  penalties  ever 
so  terrible  would  deter  them";  that  "she  wanted 
neither  wit  nor  wisdom  to  escape,"  nor  courage  to 
do  it  even  at  the  hazard  of  her  life,  all  of  which 
she  had  proved  when  "she  adventured  herself 
at  Loch  Leven";2  that  "there  were  traitors  ready 

1  D'Ewes,  208-210,  passim.  more    clearly  to    what   utter   self- 

2  I  could  not  consent  to  insert  in  abandonment    to  vice    it   was  be- 
the   text    words   which    contain    a  lieved,  by  all  classes  of  English  Prot- 
scurrilous   innuendo.     Yet    I  place  estants,    this    unfortunate    princess 
them  here,  because  perhaps  noth-  had   arrived.      "  She    was  told   at 
ing  in  the  records  of  the  time  shows  Loch  Leven,  there  was  no  way  but 


CH.  XV.]  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  433 

to  do  for  her  liberty,  who  would  adventure  deep  for 
a  kingdom,  because  —  the  service  done  —  the  reward 
would  be  great";  "and  when  that  day  shall  come, 
woe  be  to  all  true  Christians  universally ;  for  upon 
her  do  depend  the  chiefest  enemies  of  religion  and  of 
this  kingdom!"  "Whereby  it  appeareth"  —  is  the 
close  of  the  argument  —  "that  the  disabling  her 
would  be  rather  for  her  benefit  than  her  hurt; 
whereas  dealing  with  her  in  the  first  degree  ac 
cording  to  her  deserts"  —  although  "she  hath  fallen 
into  your  hands  from  the  violence  of  others,  and  so 
as  a  bird  followed  by  a  hawk  seeketh  succor  at 
your  Majesty's  feet"  —"is  lawful,  safe,  necessary, 
and  honorable  for  your  Majesty  and  all  Christen 
dom  besides." ] 

In  reply  to  these  persuasives,  her  Majesty  declared 
to  both  Houses,  that  she  did  thankfully  accept  their 
good-will  and  zeal;  that  what  they  recommended 
was  certainly  the  best  and  surest  for  safety;  but 
that,  for  private  reasons,  she  should  for  the  present 
suspend,  though  not  reject,  the  course  of  proceed 
ing  advised  by  their  memorial.  She  further  desired 
a  second  bill,  to  embrace  the  other  course  of  pro 
ceeding,  yet  so  as  it  should  neither  admit  nor  deny 
any  right  of  succession  to  the  crown  to  be  or  to 
have  been  in  the  Scottish  queen.2  To  secure  this, 

death  with  her,  if  she  did  not  take  Journal ;   but  only  to   express  my 

her  imprisonment  quietly,  and  live  understanding  of  its  true  meaning, 

without  seeking  liberty.      Notwith-  That  the  reader  may  judge  for  him- 

standing,    she    adventured    herself  self,  I  give  the  words  from  D'Ewes. 

with  a  young  fellow  very  dishonor-  "  Her  Majesty,  minding  in  that  bill 

ably  to  get  away  in  a  boat."  by  any  implication  or   drawing  of 

1  D'Ewes,  216,  217.  words    not    to    have    the    Scottish 

2  I  have  here  taken,  perhaps,  a  queen    either    enabled  or  disabled 
large  liberty  with  the  text  of  the  to  or  from  any  manner  of  title  to 

VOL.  I.  55 


434  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  AND  [Cn.  XV. 

she  would  have  the  bill  first  drawn  by  her  Coun 
cil  ;  and  in  conclusion,  she  forbade  either  House  to 
enter,  in  the  mean  time,  upon  any  speeches  or  argu 
ments  upon  the  matter. 

A  bill,  however,  afterwards  passed  both  Houses 
"  against  Mary,  the  daughter  and  heir  of  James  V.,  late 
King  of  Scots,  commonly  called  the  Queen  of  Scots  "  ; 1 
but  it  did  not  receive  the  royal  sanction.  Four  days 
after  it  was  sent  to  the  Lords  from  the  Commons, 
the  Parliament  was  " adjourned"  by  the  queen's 
command.2  Thus  began,3  and  thus  for  the  present 
ended,  the  Great  Cause  of  the  Queen  of  Scots. 

Experts,  perhaps  novices,  in  casuistry  and  Scrip 
tural  exegesis  may  find  flaws  in  the  reasonings  of  the 
committees  in  this  cause.  But  it  should  be  remem 
bered,  that  these  are  not  chargeable  to  either  one  of 
the  dominant  religious  sects,  but  to  the  entire  Prot 
estant  mind  of  England,  —  misled,  doubtless,  by  libels 
and  forgeries,  and  certainly  hard  pressed  to  decisive 
measures  for  national  defence. 


the   crown  of  this   realm,  or    any  much  as  any  mention  made  of  the 

other  title  to  the  same  whatsoever  Queen    of    Scots    in    that   Parlia- 

touched  at  all,  willeth  that  the  bill  ment." 

be  first  drawn  by  her  learned  Coun-        Unless  "  to  make  -unable,"  be  dif- 

cil,"  &c.  ferent  from  "  to  disable,"  the  bill 

1  D'Ewes,  204,  221,  224.  "  against  Mary,  commonly  called  the 

2  Ibid.,  204.  Queen  of  Scots,"  was  drawn  contra- 
8  Hallam  seems  to  say  on  p.  88,  ry  to  the  queen's  intent ;  and  not 

and  distinctly  says  on  p.  149,  that  a  by  the  Council,  but  by  Parliament 
bill  attainting  the  Queen  of  Scots  in  direct  disobedience  of  her  corn- 
was  introduced  into  the  Parliament  mand.  Burleigh  describes  it  as  "  a 
of  1571.  So  also  say  Camden,  p.  law  to  make  her  wnable  and  unwor- 
168,  and  Rapin,  II.  100.  This  is  a  thy  of  succession  to  the  crown." 
mistake,  the  source  of  which  is  stated  (Lingard,  VHL  102,  note;  quoted 
by  D'Ewes,  207,  212,  215;  where  it  from  Digges,  219.)  There  is  no 
appears,  as  well  as  from  the  Journal  clew  to  its  purport  in  D'Ewes,  other 
of  1571  itself,  that  "  there  was  not  so  than  its  title. 


CH.  XV.J  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.  435 

In  the  very  face  of  the  royal  recommendation  at 
the  opening  of  Parliament,  that  they  should  enlist  the 
civil  sword  with  the  sword  ecclesiastic  in  the  service 
of  "the  ornaments  of  religion,"  the  Commons  pro 
posed  laws  to  lighten  the  ceremonial  burdens.  They 
brought  in  two  bills  "for  Kites  and  Ceremonies,"1 
one  of  which  —  to  redress  the  hardships  of  the  Puri 
tans  —  was  read  the  third  time  and  referred,  on  the 
20th  of  May.  On  the  22d,  her  Majesty  ordered 
that  henceforth  no  bills  concerning  religion  should 
be  presented  or  received  there,  unless  first  consid 
ered  and  liked  by  the  clergy ;  and  demanded  that 
the  bills  be  sent  to  her.2  The  House  sent  them,  with 
a  humble  request,  that,  if  her  Majesty  liked  them  not, 
she  would  not  think  ill  of  the  House,  or  of  the  per 
sons  who  presented  them.  The  next  day,  Mr.  Treas 
urer  reported,  that  "  her  Majesty  did  mislike  the  first 
bill,  and  him  who  brought  the  same  into  the  House ; 
that  she  would  have  no  preacher  or  minister  im 
peached  or  indicted,  as  the  preamble  of  the  bill  did 
purport ;  and  that  she  herself,  as  Defender  of  the 
Faith,  would  aid  and  maintain  all  good  Protestants 
to  the  discouraging  of  all  Papists."3 

We  should  be  slow  to  concede  that  "  the  submis- 
siveness  of  this  Parliament/'  in  this  instance,  "was 
owing  to  the  queen's  vigorous  dealings  with  the 
last";4  for  it  was  after  her  dealing  with  Bell,  and  dur 
ing  her  dealing  with  Strickland,  that  the  most  bold 
and  interesting  debates  broke  forth  in  that  House  of 
Commons,  and  their  most  spirited  resentment  of  her 
breach  of  privilege.  True,  the  Commons  of  1572 

1  Strype's  Parker,  394.  3  Ibid.,  214. 

2  D'Ewes,  213.  *  Hallam,  150. 


436      PRESBYTERIANS  AND  PARLIAMENT  OF  1572.    [Cn.  XV. 

were  not  the  same  ;  but  we  have  just  seen  that  they 
could  reject  a  royal  dictation,  notwithstanding  the 
memory  of  vigorous  dealings  in  1571.  Besides,  the 
very  man,  Peter  Wentworth,  who  revived  the  cour 
age  of  the  last  House  by  his  indignant  retort  upon 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  was  present  here  in  this ;  and, 
although  he  held  his  peace,  lie  was  not  cowed,  but 
aroused  and  incensed,  by  the  arbitrary  interference 
of  the  queen.  This  he  proved  most  memorably  in 
the  next  session  of  this  same  Parliament.  It  is  more 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  Commons,  instead  of 
being  overawed  by  her  Majesty's  frown,  yielded  their 
indignation  to  the  paramount,  absorbing  interest 
of  "  The  Great  Cause."  The  Puritan  knew  when  to 
speak,  and  when  to  be  silent. 


CHAPTEE   XVI. 

THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT. 

THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERY.  —  A  PURITAN  REPLY  TO  A  BISHOP'S  DEFENCE  OF  THE 
CHURCH.  —  FIELD  AND  WILCOX  IMPRISONED.  —  THEIR  CONFERENCE  WITH 
THE  ARCHBISHOP'S  CHAPLAIN. — WHITGIFT'S  ANSWER  TO  THE  ADMONITION. — 
CARTWRIGHT  PUBLISHES  A  SECOND  ADMONITION,  AND  A  REPLY  TO  WHIT- 
GIFT'S  ANSWER. — THEIR  CONTROVERSY. —  THE  QUEEN'S  PROCLAMATION 
AGAINST  THE  ADMONITION,  AND  CART  WRIGHT'S  REPLY.  —  THE  ALARM  OF 
THE  PRECISIAN  PRELATES.  —  SUBSCRIPTION  ENFORCED  THROUGHOUT  THE 
KINGDOM.  —  THE  MASSACRE  ON  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW'S  DAY  IN  PARIS. — RE 
JOICINGS  AT  ROME.  —  EFFECT  OF  THE  MASSACRE  IN  ENGLAND.  —  THE  CON 
DITION  OF  RELIGION. 

1572. 

MR.  FIELD  and  Mr.  Wilcox  did  not  falter  in  their 
plan.  They  matured  their  memorial  after  the  gen 
eral  outline  which  has  been  described,  submitted  it  to 
the  revision  of  several  of  their  dissenting  brethren, 
and  presented  it  themselves  to  Parliament  early  in 
the  session.  It  was  entitled  "  An  Admonition  to  Par 
liament  for  Eeformation  of  Church  Discipline  " ;  was 
printed  when  presented,  and  soon  passed  through 
four  editions,  notwithstanding  strenuous  efforts  by 
authority  to  suppress  it.1 

The  special  umbrage  given  to  the  queen  by  what 
was  designated  as  "  the  first  bill,"  affords  ground  to 
suppose  that  it  had  been  framed  to  further  "  the  Ad- 

1  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  102.     Heyl.     gift,  27.     Neal  I.  121.     Brook,  I. 
Presb.,  Bk.  VII.  sec.  2.      Camden,     319;  II.  143,  185. 
191.     Strype's  Parker,  347;  Whit- 


438  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.        [On.  XVI. 

monition/'  and  that  the  latter  was  in  some  way  con 
nected  with  the  former.  But  however  this  may  have 
been,  both  bills  and  the  Admonition  were  "  dashed/' 
when  her  Majesty  prohibited  religious  discussion; 
and  thus  all  hope  of  relief  from  Parliament  was  at 
an  end.  The  queen,  through  her  morbid  jealousy 
for  her  prerogative  of  the  supremacy,  had  taken 
another  false  step ;  for  her  stopping  of  religious  pro 
ceedings  upon  this  occasion  only  drove  the  Puritans 
from  the  rule  of  London  to  the  rule  of  Geneva.  Find 
ing  that  books,  and  petitions,  and  appeals  to  Parlia 
ment,  availed  them  nothing,1  many  of  their  clergy, 
with  several  laymen  of  consideration,  some  time  in 
the  month  of  June  formed  themselves  into  a  presby 
tery  at  Wandsworth,  that  place  being  retired  and 
convenient  of  access  by  land  and  by  water  from  Lon 
don.2  "  This  was  the  first-born  of  all  presbyteries  in 
England " ;  the  nucleus  to  which  a  large  portion  of 
the  London  clergy  soon  attached  themselves ;  the 
parent  stock  whence  seed  dropped  and  also  took 
root  in  neighboring  counties. 

The  Precisians  were  disturbed  by  the  Admonition. 
One  of  them,  Dr.  Cooper,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  preach 
ing  at  Paul's  Cross  on  the  27th  of  June,  thought  it 
necessary  to  counteract  its  influence  by  a  sermon  in 

1  Collier,  VI.  529.  -when  the  presbytery  was  organized 

2  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  103.     Collier,  within  the  term  from  May  22d,  when 
VI.  529,530.     Neal  seems  to  say,  the  application  to  Parliament  failed, 
that  this  presbytery  was  formed  on  and  the  7th  of  July,  when  these  men 
the  20th  of  November,  and  mentions  were  arrested.    (See  Brook,  I.  322.) 
among  its  chief  members  at  its  for-  Eleven   elders  were   chosen ;    and 
mation  Field   and  "Wilcox.     They  their  offices  and  general  rules  were 
doubtless  were.      But    these    men  agreed   upon,   and    inscribed  in   a 
were  in  prison  from  the  7th  of  July  register,  entitled    "  The   Orders  of 
till  near   the  close  of  1573.     It  is  Wandsworth."      (Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p. 
necessary,  therefore,  to  fix  the  time  103.    Neal,  I.  126.) 


CH.  XVI.]       THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  439 

defence  of  the  Church,  its  Liturgy  and  its  rites.  In 
answer  to  this,  the  Bishop  received  a  private  anony 
mous  letter,  to  the  several  points  of  which  he  com 
menced  noting  his  answers  in  the  margin,  abandon 
ing  the  attempt,  however,  after  two  notes  upon  com 
paratively  trifling  matters.  This  letter  deserves 
some  notice,  as  exhibiting  some  strong  points  upon 
which  this  new  school  of  the  Puritans  relied,  and  as 
showing  the  undeniable  unfitness  of  many  of  the 
clergy  approved,  and  the  undeniable  oppressions  of 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  In  this  letter  it  was 
charged,  that  well  qualified  preachers  were  thrust 
from  office  by  "urging  upon  them  gay  gear  and 
Popish  abominations "  ;  that  they  were  imprisoned, 
suspended,  deprived,  banished,  excommunicated, 
while  it  was  notorious  that  there  was  a  lack  of 
preachers  in  the  kingdom,  as  the  Lord  Keeper  him 
self  had  declared  to  the  Parliament.  It  was  further 
charged,  that,  in  lieu  of  the  godly  and  capable  who 
might  be  had,  idle  men,  stupid,  ignorant,  irreverent, 
mere  readers,  lewd  men,  and  Papists,  who  would 
bring  never  a  stone  to  build  the  Lord's  temple,  were 
thrust  upon  the  congregations  for  ministers;  and 
that  many  of  these  were  "galloping  Sir  Johns, 
licensed  to  preach  in  two  or  three  cures." 

In  answer  to  the  Bishop's  appeal  to  Ignatius  and 
other  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  to  ancient  usages, 
it  was  tartly  replied,  "  For  us  to  stand  so  much  upon 
men's  judgment,  seeing  that  every  man  is  a  liar, 
and  to  ascribe  so  much  unto  the  time  wherein  they 
lived,  seeing  that  the  Apostle  tells  us  that  the  mys 
tery  of  iniquity  began  to  work  in  his  days,  is  a  vanity 
and  deluding  the  simple  " ;  that  the  joining  of  civil 


440  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PAELIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 

offices  to  ecclesiastical  functions,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
bishops  of  the  English  Church,  was  contrary  to  usage 
in  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  where  Moses  was  God's 
magistrate,  Aaron  his  priest,  and  Joshua  his  cap 
tain  ;  that  it  was  a  feeble  argument  for  the  order  of 
archbishops  to  say,  as  the  Bishop  did  in  his  sermon, 
"that  there  were  archbishops  in  the  first  Nicene 
Council,  which  was  three  hundred  years  after  Christ, 
and  that  therefore  the  office  was  agreeable  to  God's 
Word  "  ;  and  moreover,  it  was  added  by  the  writer, 
"the  word  arch  is  not  attributed  in  the  New  Testa 
ment  to  any  officer  or  minister  of  God's  Church  Mil 
itant.  St.  Peter  calls  Christ  Arch-shepherd,  which 
shows  that  whoso  takes  the  same  title  to  himself 
taketh  a  name  and  title  by  right  only  Christ's." 

We  see  here,  to  some  extent,  on  what  grounds 
the  disciples  of  Cartwright  objected,  not  merely  to 
the  titles,  but  to  the  mixed  functions,  of  the  Eng 
lish  hierarchy. 

After  upbraiding  the  ecclesiastical  magistrates  for 
keeping  godly  ministers  in  prison,  for  separating 
them  utterly  from  friends,  wives,  and  children,  for 
driving  their  families  to  beggary,  because  they  re 
fused  Popish  apparel  and  spake  or  wrote  against 
the  missals  and  pontificals  of  the  Church,  the  writer 
adds,  as  if  he  already  foresaw  the  retribution  in 
kind  which  in  less  than  a  century  was  to  be  visited 
upon  the  Establishment,  "Assure  yourself,  as  you 
persecute  them,  so  shall  you  be  persecuted ;  as  you 
bring  them  and  theirs  to  beggary,  so  you  and  yours 
shall  be  beggared,  unless  you  repent." 

A  meagre  sketch  of  a  very  long  and  able  letter,  — 
a  letter  remarkable  for  its  pertinence  and  pungency, 


CH.  XVI.]       THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  441 

and  no  less  so  for  its  almost  entire  freedom  from 
the  offensive  language  which  then  degraded  much 
of  religious  controversy.  That  the  Bishop  should 
have  suspended  his  marginal  annotations  so  soon, 
is  significant.1 

On  the  7th  of  July,  Mr.  Field  and  Mr.  Wilcox 
were  arrested  for  having  presented  to  Parliament 
"  The  Admonition" ; 2  and,  after  three  months  passed 
in  prison,  they  were  indicted  under  the  Statute 
1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.,3  and  sentenced  on  the  2d  of  Octo 
ber  to  a  year's  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail 
of  Newgate.4  About  the  first  of  September,  probably, 
they  wrote  a  letter  of  remonstrance  to  Archbishop 
Parker,  which  was  delivered  to  him  by  their  wives,5 
and  which  so  far  moved  that  Primate,  that  he  sent 
his  chaplain  to  confer  with  them  in  Newgate,  and  to 
inquire  "in  what  particular  instance  they  could 
accuse  him  of  injustice  and  cruelty."  The  conversa 
tion  was  conducted  in  a  Christian  spirit  by  both 
parties ;  being  opened,  with  the  cheerful  assent  of 
the  chaplain,  by  prayer  from  Mr.  Field  for  Divine 
assistance  in  their  interview.6  The  prisoners  argued, 

1  Stiype's  Annals,  HE.  287-303.  would  have  been  the  forfeiture  of 

2  Ibid.,  275.  their  livings  for  one  year,  and  six 

3  Brook,  I.  320.  months'  imprisonment.    According  to 

4  Their  sentence  shows  that  they  Hallam's  representation  of  the  stat- 
were   convicted  under  Sec.  H.    of  ute  (p.   74),  they  would  have  been 
the   Act  of  Uniformity,   for    "  de-  sentenced   to    "  forfeit    goods    and 
claring  anything  in   derogation  or  chattels " ;    for    the    section  which 
depraving  of  the  Book  of  Common  prescribes   penalties  upon  ministers 
Prayer," — the  first  offence.  for  deviating  from  the  Liturgy  pre- 

Heylin  (Presb.,  Bk.  VTL  Sec.  3)  scribes  the  same  penalties  for  their 

and    Brook    (II.     191)     call  them  declaring    anything   derogatory    of 

beneficed  curates.    But  their  sen-  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 

tence   shows   that  they  were  only  5  Brook,  II.  186. 

"  Lecturers,"   or   preachers.      Had  6  Ibid.,  187. 
they  been  beneficed,  their  sentence 

VOL.  i.  56 


442  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.        [Cii.  XVI. 

that  where  Paul  says  that  God  gave  to  his  Church 
some  apostles,  some  prophets,  some  evangelists,  he 
speaks  of  extraordinary  offices  peculiar  to  that  age ; 
that  where  he  adds,  "  some  pastors  and  teachers," 
he  speaks  of  ordinary  offices  to  continue  to  the 
end  of  time,  —  offices  which  differ  not  in  authority 
and  dignity,  though  they  may  in  gifts  and  graces. 
They  urged  also  that  each  minister  should  have 
his  own  charge,  and  not  ordinarily  preach  out  of 
it ;  because  every  pastor  had  work  enough  to  take 
proper  care  of  his  own  flock ;  because  a  wandering 
ministry  will  be  an  ignorant  one ;  and  because  it 
is  contrary  to  reason  and  to  Scripture.1  They  also 
pressed  this  point :  that  if  the  Apostles  did  well  in 
communicating  the  temporal  part  of  their  office  to 
others,  —  deacons,  —  so  that  they  might  give  them 
selves  wholly  to  prayer  and  preaching,  what  shall 
we  judge  of  those  who  unite  civil  functions  to  their 
ecclesiastical  offices  ? 2  The  conversation  having  con 
tinued  in  this  strain  for  some  time,  Mr.  Pearson,  the 
chaplain,  remarked,  "  You  seem  to  have  written  your 
book  in  choler  against  some  persons,  rather  than  to 
promote  a  reformation  of  the  Church." 

"  I  suppose  you  are  displeased  with  the  sharp 
ness  of  the  language,"  said  Wilcox.  "  We  are  will 
ing  to  bear  the  blame  of  that." 

u  I  think  it  did  not  proceed  from  a  spirit  of  love, 
and  charity,  and  meekness." 

"That  toucheth  me,"  said  Field,  "and  therefore 
I  answer,  that  we  have  used  gentle  words  too  long ; 
we  perceive  that  they  have  done  no  good.  The 

1  Brook,  H.  187,  188.  2  Ibid.,  188. 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PAKLIAMENT.  443 

wound  is  become  desperate;  it  therefore  needeth 
a  strong  corrosive.  It  is  no  time  to  flatter  men 
in  their  sins.  Yet,  God  knoweth,  we  meant  to  speak 
against  no  man's  person,  but  their  places,  and  existing 
corruptions" 

"  Will  you  then  take  away  all  ecclesiastical  poli 
cy  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Pearson.  «  It  pleaseth  the  prince, 
in  policy,  to  make  the  ministers  lord  bishops  and 
archbishops.  I  confess  this  cannot  be  warranted  by 
God's  Word;  but  as  the  Christian  magistrate,  in 
policy,  esteemeth  it  good,  and  not  against  God's 
Word,  I  doubt  whether  they  may  not  do  it." 

u  We  praise  God,"  replied  Mr.  Wilcox  with  earnest 
ness,  "  for  having  made  you  confess  this  truth.  But 
we  must  consider  whether  the  policy  concerning 
ecclesiastical  matters,  as  contained  in  God's  Word, 
be  not  all-sufficient  and  alone  to  be  followed.  The 
ministers  of  Christ  may  take  unto  themselves  no 
other  titles  than  those  allowed  and  appointed  in 
God's  Word,  though  the  Christian  prince  make 
ever  so  liberal  an  offer  of  them." 

"When  in  honor  they  are  offered,"  returned  the 
chaplain,  "would  you  have  them  wilfully  and  un- 
thankfully  refuse  them?" 

"They  should  say,"  answered  Mr.  Field,  —  "<We 
cannot  labor  in  this  our  sacred  function  so  faithfully 
as  the  Lord  re  quire  th,  therefore  we  most  humbly 
desire  your  Majesty  to  lay  the  charge  of  civil  mat 
ters  elsewhere ;  and  let  us  exercise  ourselves  in  the 
office  of  the  ministry  only.'  The  names  of  Lord 
Bishop  and  Archbishop  belong  to  Jesus  Christ  alone, 
as  Lord  and  King  in  Zion." 

"  If,"  replied  Mr.  Pearson,  "  if  for  religion  the  prince 


444  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PAELIAMENT.        [Cn.  XVI. 

appoint  fasts,  we  ought  not  to  obey ;  but  if  in  policy j 
when  victuals  are  dear,  we  are  bound  in  conscience 
to  obey."1 

"  As  you  plead  so  much  for  policy,"  said  Mr. 
Field,  "  we  suffer  for  opposing  the  Popish  hierarchy, 
the  policy  of  which  is  directly  contrary  to  that 
which  was  used  in  the  primitive  Church." 

"  Must  we  then  in  every  point  follow  the  Apostles 
and  the  primitive  Church?" 

"  Yes ;  unless  a  better  order  be  found.  In  matters 
of  government  and  discipline,  the  Word  of  God  is 
our  only  warrant ;  but  rites  and  ceremonies  not 
mentioned  in  Scripture  are  to  be  used  or  refused,  as 
shall  best  appear  to  the  edification  of  the  Church." 

Here  the  conversation  closed.2 

The  horrors  of  prison  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth 
will  probably  be  unknown  to  us  "  until  the  Lord 
come,  who  will  bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of 
darkness."  We  find  no  detailed  description  of  life 
and  suffering  and  death  within  the  Gate-House, 
the  Fleet,  the  Clink,  the  Marshalsea,  Newgate,  or 
Bridewell ;  but  we  glean  here  and  there  some  things 
whose  aggregate  is  fearful.  We  know  that  these 
prisons  were  filled  with  the  most  revolting  forms  of 
vice,  degradation,  misery,  want,  disease,  and  death; 
that  most  of  their  inmates  were  the  worst  of  felons, 
men  and  women3  who  had  abandoned  themselves, 
without  stint  or  shame,  to  the  grossest  depravity. 
We  know  that  they  were  herded,  by  day  at  least;  in 
a  common  apartment ;  surrounded  by  filth ;  breath- 

1  See  infra,  Vol.  H.  Chap.  IE.  3  Stow's    Survey,    131    (London 

2  Brook,  H.  189,  190.  edit.  1842). 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION   TO   PARLIAMENT.  445 

ing  a  putrid  air ;  some  shackled ;  some  penniless ; 
half  starved ;  quarrelsome  ;  foul-mouthed ;  bestial ;  in 
summer,  half  suffocated  ;  in  winter,  half  frozen ;  and 
always  without  discipline ;  —  pale  men  and  florid  ; 
emaciated  men  and  bloated ;  fierce-looking  men  and 
dejected ;  with  staring  eyes  and  bloodshot ;  with 
dull  eyes  and  sunken ;  with  hands  and  faces  covered 
with  sores ;  and  all  seething  in  a  stench  so  gross  as 
might  almost  be  felt.  Sometimes  the  jail-fever  would 
come  in.  Then  the  sick  would  rave  about  their 
sins,  and  about  death,  and  about  after  death ;  and 
curse  each  other  ;  and  blaspheme ;  and,  blaspheming, 
die.  And  the  well  would  look  on,  and  sing  songs, 
and  jeer,  and  mock.  We  shall  hereafter  exhibit 
facts  to  confirm  these  general  statements. 

It  is  terrible  for  any  one  whom  God  has  made 
to  enjoy  the  blue  heavens,  the  fields,  fresh  air,  and 
familiar  faces,  to  be  locked  up  even  with  strangers 
of  congenial  habits,  and  with  the  common  conven 
iences  of  life,  week  after  week,  month  after  month. 
But  to  take  from  his  sacramental  board  twenty-four 
men  and  seven  women  who  have  imbibed  Christ's 
spirit,  —  to  take  two  ripe  scholars  of  Oxford,  preach 
ers  of  the  Gospel,  their  daily  converse  with  things 
heavenly,  from  their  vocation,  their  wives  and  chil 
dren, —  and  thrust  them  into  such  a  kennel, — the 
terribleness  of  this  can  be  known  only  to  God  and  the 
sufferer.  Whether  it  was  precisely  the  prison  lot  of 
the  offenders  of  the  Plumbers'  Hall,  and  of  Field  and 
Wilcox,  we  cannot  affirm,  but  we  believe  it  was ; 
for  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  and  women,  and  young 
maidens  too,  were  thrust  "  into  dangerous  and  loath 
some  jails,  among  the  most  facinorous  and  vile  per- 


446  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PAELIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 

sons/'  for  not  praying  by  the  book.  Nor  was  this 
half  their  woes.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  merely 
because  they  have  left  no  telltale  plaint  on  record, 
that  it  was  otherwise  with  these  two  petitioners  to 
Parliament.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  details 
of  their  sufferings,  they  were  utterly  impoverished 
in  their  prison,  with  not  money  enough  to  buy  their 
bread ;  they  were  "  in  a  most  loathsome "  place ; 
made  sick,  emaciated,  "by  the  unwholesome  savor 
and  the  cold  weather."1  Twice  they  petitioned  their 
friend,  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  for  relief;  once  their 
wives  and  children  did  the  same.  They  also  pleaded 
with  Lord  Burleigh,  who  was  well  affected  to  their 
cause,  to  procure  their  liberty.  They  addressed  him 
in  a  "  well-penned  letter  in  Latin," 2  which  is  still 
extant.3  In  this  they  pleaded  justice ;  affirming  the 
simple  truth,  that  they  had  only  "urged  in  their 
book  the  reformation  of  horrid  abuses  and  corrup 
tions  acknowledged  by  all  the  foreign  Reformed 
churches,  and  by  men  of  eminent  learning,  to  be 
very  foul." 4  They  stated  also,  that  "  they  had  not 
attempted  to  correct  or  change  anything  of  them 
selves,  but  only  by  Parliament,  and  with  the  queen's 
approbation,  in  a  quiet  and  legal  way." 5 

But  the  queen's  prerogative  had  been  touched ; 
the  Archbishop  was  already  jealous  that  some  prin 
ciple  cankerous  to  despotism  was  lurking  under  this 
zeal  for  religious  reform ;  and  the  Ecclesiastical  Com 
missioners  were  determined  that  their  power  should 


1  Neal,  I.   122,  123.      Brook,  I.  4  Strong  language ;  but  sustained 
319,  320.  by  the  "  Zurich  Letters." 

2  Strype's  Annals,  HI.  275.  5  Strype'sAnnals,m.276.  Brook, 

3  Ibid.,  IV.  Append.  XIX.  I.  319,  320  ;  II.  190,  191. 


CH.  XVI.]       THE  ADMONITION  TO   PARLIAMENT.  447 

be  felt.  Besides,  the  culprits  were  brought  into 
greater  odium  by  Doctor  John  Whitgift,  Master  of 
Trinity  College  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  Cambridge, 
who  had  an  old  grudge  against  Cartwright  and  his 
principles.  He  published  "An  Answer  to  the  Ad 
monition,"  revised  and  corrected  before  it  went  to 
press  by  Archbishop  Parker,  and  by  Cooper,  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln ; l  who,  of  course,  were  responsi 
ble  for  its  statements  and  reasonings.  Whitgift 
argued  that  Field  and  Wilcox  were  disturbers  of 
good  order,  and  enemies  to  the  state ; 2  that  u  because 
they  would  have  bishops  imlorded,  therefore  they 
would  overthrow  the  civil  magistracy ;  that  they 
who  were  seeking  an  equality  of  rank  among  the 
clergy,  would  soon  be  for  levelling  the  rank  of  the 
nobility;  and  that,  because  they  found  fault  with 
the  regimen  of  the  Church,  therefore  they  designed 
the  ruin  of  the  state." 3  So  in  the  time  of  Henry 
VIII.  cried  out  the  Eomish  priests  against  those 
who  "  wrote  books  against  the  pride  and  luxury  of 
the  bishops  " ;  that  "  they  were  men  jealous  of  all 
authority ;  that,  if  they  once  got  rid  of  that  of  the 
bishops,  they  would  not  rest  long  till  they  had 
also  got  rid  of  that  of  his  Majesty ;  that  these  attacks 
upon  ecclesiastics  and  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrines 
were  only  a  prelude  to  seditious  attempts  against 
their  sovereign."  4 

All  these  things  bore  hard  upon  the  two  prisoners, 
and  countervailed  their  petitions  and  the  good-will  of 
courtiers.  We  have  no  account  of  their  liberation ; 

1  Strype's  Parker,  363.  *  Bagster's  Memorials  of  Cover- 

2  Brook,  I.  321.  dale,  p.  25. 

3  Neal,I.  122. 


448  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.        [Cn.  XVI. 

but  they  were  kept  in  the  common  jail  of  Newgate 
twelve  months,  at  least,  from  the  time  of  their  sen 
tence;1  making  fifteen  months  in  all,  which  was 
stretching  the  penalty  of  a  very  stern  statute  one 
fourth  part. 

Mr.  Cartwright  had  returned  to  England  just  about 
the  time  when  the  Admonition  was  published.  Upon 
the  imprisonment  of  its  authors,  he  was  induced  to 
publish  a  second  Admonition,  which  was  "  more  impor 
tunate  and  to  the  same  effect "; 2  and  "  it  comes  out," 
says  one  writer,  "  with  such  a  flash  of  lightning,  and 
such  claps  of  thunder,  as  if  heaven  and  earth  were 
presently  to  have  met  together."3  This  book  was 
entitled,  "  A  Second  Admonition,  with  an  Humble 
Petition  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament  for  Relief  against 
Subscription  "  ;  urging  that,  as  now  required,  this  sub 
scription  "  had  no  foundation  in  law,  but  was  an  act 
of  sovereignty  in  the  crown." 4  He  also  published 
"  A  Keply  to  Whitgift's  Answer " ;  a  pamphlet  not 
only  exceedingly  applauded  by  the  populace,5  but 
acknowledged  by  great  numbers  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  by  foreign  divines,  and  even  by  his  own 
adversaries,  to  be  a  masterly  performance.6  This  led 
to  a  controversy.7  Cartwright  maintained  that  the 

1  Brook,  I.  320;    F.  and  W.  to  "Defence,"    in   February,  1573-4. 
Leicester.     There  must  be  an  error  (Strype's   Parker,  420.)     In  1575, 
of  a  year  in  the  date  of  this  letter  as  Cartwright  published  the  first  part 
given  in  Brook.  of  a   "  Second    Reply,"  in  answer 

2  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  102.  to  Whitgift's  "Defence";    and  in 
8  Heyl.  Presb.,  Bk.  VII.  sec.  2.        1577,  the  second  part.     (Neal,  I. 

4  Neal,  I.  121.  125.    Brook,  H  143.)    Fuller  (Bk. 

5  Strype's  Parker,  420.  IX.  p.  103)   says    that  Cartwright 

6  Strype's  Whitgift,  53.    Neal,  I.  kept  silence  after  the  publication  of 
123.     Brook,  II.  143.  Whitgift's    "Defence";    but    adds 

7  In     answer     to     Cartwright's  parenthetically,  "  for   aught  I  can 
"  Reply,"     Whitgift     published     a  find."     He  is  mistaken  in  attributing 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT. 


449 


Bible  was  the  only  standard  of  doctrine,  of  discipline, 
and  of  government,"  for  the  Church.  Whitgift 
averred  that  it  was  not  a  standard  of  Church  disci 
pline  and  government;  that  these  are  changeable, 
and  may  be  accommodated  to  the  civil  government 
under  which  we  live  ;  that  the  apostolical  govern 
ment  was  for  the  Church  in  its  infancy  and  under 
persecution.  And  therefore,  instead  of  reducing  the 
external  policy  of  the  Church  to  the  simplicity  of  the 


both  "  Admonitions  "  to  Cartwright. 
So  are  Strype  and  others.  See 
Pierce,  83,  and  Brook,  II.  143. 

Field  and  Wilcox  also  replied  to 
Whitgift's  calumnious  charges  in  his 
"  Answer,"  by  publishing  a  confes 
sion  of  their  faith,  December  4th, 
1572.  Some  points  in  this  paper 
ought  to  be  kept  in  view  hereafter, 
in  discriminating  between  the  Pres 
byterians  and  the  Independents.  I 
therefore  transcribe  some  of  them 
as  given  by  Neal,  I.  122,  note. 

(1.)  "The  Church  of  a  God  is  a 
congregation  called  and  gathered 
out  of  the  world  by  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  united  in  the  true 
faith,  and  resolving  to  form  their 
lives,  government,  order,  and  cere 
monies  according  to  the  Word  of 
God." 

(2.)  "  The  office  of  a  pastor  is,  to 
preach  the  Word  and  administer  the 
sacraments  ;  and  therefore  bare 
readers  are  no  more  fit  for  pastors 
than  women  or  children  that  can 
read  well." 

(3.)  "  There  ought  to  be  joined 
to  the  pastors  of  the  church,  elders 
and  deacons,  for  the  bridling  of 
vices,  and  providing  for  the  poor." 

(4.)  "  The  pastor  should  be  chosen 
by  the  congregation,  and  confirmed 

VOL.  I.  57 


in  his  vocation  by  the  elders  with 
public  prayer  and  imposition  of 
hands." 

(5.)  "  No  pastor  ought  to  usurp 
dominion  over  another  ;  nor  any 
church,  over  another  church." 

(6.)  "  Ceremonies  should  be  few ; 
have  no  show  of  evil  ;  but  mani 
festly  tend  to  decency  and  good 
order.  We  reject,  therefore,  all 
Popish  ceremonies  and  apparel." 

(7.)  "  Churches  may  differ  in  or 
der  and  ceremonies,  and  yet  keep 
the  unity  of  the  faith.  Therefore 
we  condemn  not  other  churches 
that  have  ceremonies  different  from 
ours." 

(8.)  "  There  ought  to  be  places 
appointed  for  public  worship,  where 
may  be  a  prescript  form  of  prayer, 
and  service  in  the  known  tongue, 
because  all  have  not  the  gift  of 
prayer ;  but  we  would  not  have  it 
patched  out  of  the  Pope's  portuises. 
But  be  the  form  of  prayer  never  so 
good,  ministers  may  not  think  them 
selves  discharged  when  they  have 
said  it  over ;  for  they  are  not  sent 
to  say  service,  but  to  preach  deliv 
erance  through  Christ.  Neither 
ought  the  minister  to  be  bound  to 
use  a  prescript  form  at  all  times." 

(9.)  "  As  preaching  is  the  chief 


450 


THE   ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.        [Cn.  XVI. 


Scripture  model,  he  embraced  in  his  standard  the 
opinions  and  customs  of  the  Fathers  in  the,  first  four 
centuries  after  Christ.  It  was  in  reference  to  this  ap 
peal  beyond  the  Bible  to  the  Fathers,  that  a  Romish 
priest  afterwards  said  to  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  —  and 
justly,  —  that  he  would  require  no  better  books  to 
prove  his  doctrine  of  Popery  than  Whitgift's  against 
Cartwright." l 

On  this  fundamental  point  —  the  standard  of  ap- 


part  of  a  minister's  office,  all  other 
things  must  give  place  to  it." 

(10.)  "  It  is  unlawful  to  withdraw 
from  the  Church  where  the  Word  is 
truly  preached,  the  sacrament  sin 
cerely  administered,  and  true  eccle 
siastical  discipline  exercised.  We 
are  not  for  an  unspotted  Church  on 
earth  ;  and  therefore,  though  the 
Church  of  England  has  many  faults, 
we  would  not  willingly  withdraw 
from  it.  Yet  God's  children,  when 
threatened  with  persecution,  and 
when  the  church  doors  are  shut 
against  them,  may  withdraw  into 
private  assemblies,  separating  from 
idolatry  and  Popery,  though  the 
laws  of  princes  are  against  it ;  and 
whoever  refuseth  to  be  subject  to 
these  congregations,  separating  them 
selves,  resisteth  the  ordinances  of 
God." 

(11.)  "Keligion  is  tied  to  no 
time,  nor  is  one  day  more  holy  than 
another.  But  because  time  must 
be  had  to  hear  the  Word  of  God, 
and  to  administer  the  Holy  Sacra 
ments,  therefore  we  keep  the  Lord's 
day  as  we  are  commanded,  but 
without  all  Jewish  superstition. 
Those  feast-days  of  Christ,  as  of  his 
birth,  circumcision,  passover,  resur 
rection,  ascension,  &c.,  may  by  Chris 


tian  liberty  be  kept,  because  they 
are  only  devoted  to  Christ,  to  whom 
all  days  and  times  belong.  But 
days  dedicated  to  saints,  with  fasts 
on  their  eves,  we  utterly  dislike, 
though  we  approve  of  the  rever 
end  memory  of  saints,  as  examples 
to  be  propounded  to  the  people 
in  sermons ;  and  of  public  and 
private  fasts,  as  the  circumstances 
of  nations  or  private  persons  re 
quire." 

The  earliest  intimation  which  I 
find  of  the  right  of  the  congregation 
to  elect  its  own  minister,  is  in  an 
anonymous  paper  written  in  1560, 
containing  hints  for  some  reforma 
tion  of  the  ministry.  It  suggests  that 
none  should  be  admitted  to  the  min 
istry  but  such  as  are  able  to  minis 
ter  according  to  God's  Word,  and  as 
shall,  at  the  same  time,  be  admitted 
to  a  certain  place  and  congrega 
tion  ;  that  every  congregation  should 
give  then*  consent  and  election,  with 
the  patron,  unto  him  that  is  to  be 
presented ;  and  that,  upon  such 
election  and  admission  into  the 
ministry,  and  institution  unto  the 
benefice,  may  well  follow  induc 
tion.  (Strype's  Annals,  I.  312, 
313.) 

1  Strype's  Whitgift,  265. 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  451 

peal  —  was  thus  opened  a  controversy  which  termi 
nated  not  with  John  Whitgift  and  Thomas  Cartr 
wright,  but  which  to  this  day  has  kept  asunder  the 
rigid  Churchman,  however  evangelical  in  spiritual 
matters,  and  the  rigid  Dissenter,  too  timid  and  dis 
trustful  to  anchor  his  hope  and  his  faith  save  in  the 
deep  counsels  of  God,  —  too  distrustful  to  guide  his 
course  in  religious  matters  by  any  other  than  a  Di 
vine  chart.  On  the  common  platform  of  the  written 
Word,  they  would  embrace. 

With  such  a  work  in  hand,  it  was  not  safe  for  Mr. 
Cartwright  to  live  in  open  day.  But  while  the  offi 
cials  of  the  ecclesiastical  commission  were  on  the 
watch,  he  had  ever  a  form  in  which  to  hide.  "  Many 
of  the  Aldermen  of  London  openly  countenanced 
him";  and  he  had  admirers  and  stanch  friends 
there,  who  gave  him  welcome  and  concealment.1 
So  formidable  to  the  government  were  his  doctrines, 
that  the  next  year,  on  the  llth  of  June,  the  queen 
issued  a  proclamation  denouncing  "  certain  books 
under  the  title  of  an  Admonition  to  Parliament,  and 
one  other  also  in  defence  of  said  Admonition;  the 
which  books  did  tend  to  no  other  end  but  to  make 
divisions  and  dissensions  in  the  opinions  of  men,  and 
to  breed  talks  and  disputes  against  the  common 
order.  Therefore  her  Highness  straitly  charged  all 
men,  of  what  quality  or  condition  they  were,  who 
had  in  custody  any  of  the  said  books,  to  bring  in  the 
same  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  or  to  one  of  her 
Highness's  Privy  Council,  within  twenty  days  after 
they  shall  have  notice  of  this  proclamation ;  and  not 
to  suffer  any  of  them,  without  license  or  allowance 

1  Strype's  Parker,  428 ;  Whitgift,  53. 


452  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 

of  the  said  bishop,  upon  pain  of  imprisonment  and 
her  Highness's  further  displeasure."1  But  when  the 
twenty  days  had  expired,  not  a  single  copy  of  the 
Admonition  by  Field  and  Wilcox  had  been  brought 
to  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  but  thirty-four  copies 
of  the  Admonition  by  Cartwright,  although  without 
doubt  there  were  thousands  dispersed  in  the  city 
and  other  parts  of  the  diocese.  The  copies  of  Cart- 
wright's  book  were  brought  in  by  Stroud,  the  pub 
lisher,  who  came  trembling  with  them  to  Bishop 
Sandys,  while  his  wife  stayed  at  home  to  burn  the  rest 
that  were  unsold.2  Stroud  had  been  an  excellent 
preacher,  but  had  been  deprived  and  forbidden  to 
preach  by  Parker.  Sandys  took  his  books,  but  up 
braided  him  for  laying  doivn  the  ministry !  "Wood 
cock,  the  bookseller  who  sold  the  first  Admonition, 
paid  for  his  sin  in  Newgate.3 

"  Having  gained  fame  by  the  first  wound  which 
those  fervent  reprehenders  "  —  the  Puritans  —  "  re 
ceived  at  his  hands,"  Whitgift  was  rewarded  for  his 
chivalry  ecclesiastic,  first,  by  being  made  Dean  of 
Lincoln;4  then,  Bishop  of  Worcester;5  and  finally, 
by  being  elevated  to  the  See  of  Canterbury.  On 
the  other  hand,  an  order  was  issued  against  Cart- 
wright,  December  11,  1573,6  "to  all  the  queen's 
Majesty's  officers,  to  seize  his  body  and  to  bring  him 
before  her  Majesty's  Commissioners  for  his  unlawful 

1  Strype's  Parker,  421,422.  brought    thirty-four.      I    have    at- 

2  Camden,  192.    Strype's  Parker,    tempted  to  reconcile  the  two. 

422;    Whitgift,   53.     Neal,  I.   124.  3  Strype's  Annals,  IV.  189  ;  Ayl- 

Strype   says  :    "  After  the   twenty  mer,  57. 

days  mentioned  in  the  proclamation,  4  Strype's  Parker,  332. 

there  was  not  one  book  brought  in  to  5  Sir  George  Paule,  sec.  39.  Neal, 

the  Bishop  of  London."     Neal  says,  1.123. 

on  manuscript  authority,  that  Stroud  °  Strype's  Annals,  III.  418. 


CH.  XVI.]       THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  453 

dealings  and  demeanors  in  matters  touching  religion 
and  the  estate  of  this  realm " ;  and  he  was  obliged 
again  to  flee  the  realm,  "  little  better  than  a  wander 
ing  beggar."1  But  the  two  champions  were  to  meet 
again. 

Whitgift  had  been  put  to  replying  to  the  Admoni 
tion  by  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners.  After  hav 
ing  tried  in  vain  to  stop  the  book  itself,  by  ordering 
the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  London  to  seize  the 
press,  —  which  probably  they  sheltered,  —  they  had 
directed  the  Master  of  Trinity  College  to  "  set  on 
work  his  very  able  and  learned  pen,  to  hinder  the 
spreading  of  its  seditious  principles." 2  A  book  which 
declared  that  "  the  place,  the  office,  the  very  name 
of  Archbishop  ought  to  be  abolished";3  which  struck 
at  his  courts  and  their  corruptions ;  which  struck  at 
his  revenues ;  which  declared  that  the  inordinate  in 
comes  of  the  prelacy  were  employed  only  in  retain 
ing  idle  servants  and  in  luxurious  living ;  and  that 
such  men,  whose  proper  functions  were  spiritual, 
ought  to  be  reduced  to  a  condition  more  private  and 
more  suitable  to  the  ministers  of  Christ;4  —  such  a 
book,  "  in  great  vogue,"  too,  naturally  aroused  the 
jealousy  and  sensitiveness  of  the  prelates.  It  was 
bad  enough,  the  Archbishop  thought,  when  such  men 
as  the  authors  cavilled  only  at  the  habits ;  but  when 
they  struck  at  the  Liturgy,  "  wherein  consisted  the  chief 
part  of  the  reformation  in  this  Church,"  denounced  the 
ecclesiastical  policy  "whereby  it  was  governed,  as 
Antichristian,  and  labored  that  another  discipline 

1  Neal,  I.   125,   129.     Brook,  H.        3  Ibid.,  313. 

146.  4  Ibid.,  422,  424,  425,  437 ;  San- 

2  Strype's  Parker,  347.  dys  to  Burleigh. 


454  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 

and  order  should  be  set  up,"  and  withal  "  were  cun 
ningly  encouraged  by  some  persons  that  pretended 
otherwise,  hoping  by  quarrels  against  the  calling  of 
bishops  to  get  a  share  of  their  revenues,"  —  "all 
this  the  Archbishop  and  his  brethren  reckoned  to 
tend  indeed  to  the  ruin  of  religion !  Nay,  more ; 
to  the  ruin  of  learning  ;  to  the  spoiling  of  the 
Church's  patrimony;  to  the  confusion  of  the  coun 
try;  to  a  popular  state"!1  When  Cartwright  and 
his  "  busy  men  "  first  brewed  these  matters  at  Cam 
bridge,  his  Grace  had  then  "  feared  they  nourished 
some  monster";2  but  now  he  was  confident,  since 
Whitgift  had  opened  his  eyes,  what  the  monster 
was;  "that  they  shot  not  only  at  the  bishops,  but 
at  the  Queen's  Council,  at  the  nobility."3  In  July, 
1573,  his  mind  was  clear  on  the  subject;  for  he 
wrote  to  Burleigh,  that  "  how  secure  soever  the  no 
bility  were  of  these  Puritans,  and  countenanced  them 
against  the  bishops,  they  themselves  might  rue  it  at 
last " ;  and  that  "  all  these  men  tended  towards  was 
to  the  overthrow  of  all  honorable  quality  and  the 
setting  up  of  a  popularity,"  by  which  "he  meant 
a  parity  or  equality  in  the  State,  as  well  as  in  the 
Church." 4 

"  Let  the  chief  authors  of  this  sedition,  who  are  now 
esteemed  as  gods,  be  removed  far  from  the  city," 
wrote  Sandys,  now  Bishop  of  London,  to  the  Lord 
Treasurer  Burleigh.  "If  these  idols  who  are  hon- 

1  Strype's  Parker,  355,  422,  433.  copy  before  me,  from  the  true  page 

2  Ibid.,  313.  448  onward  twelve  pages,  all  desig- 

3  Ibid.,  355.  nated  in  the  copy  thus  :  [  ] .     This 

4  Ibid.,     [447].        The    brackets  distinction  will  be  observed  as  occa- 
here  denote  the   duplicate  numer-  sion  requires.     Compare   supra, 'p. 
ical    pages,    which    occur    in     the  341,  note  2. 


CH.  XVI. J        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  455 

ored  for  saints,  and  greatly  enriched  by  gifts/'  —  be 
cause  they  were  in  penury  for  their  opinions, — 
"  were  removed  from  hence,  their  honor  would  fall 
into  the  dust.  They  would  be  taken  for  blocks,  as 
they  are.  Let  a  commission  be  sent  to  the  Mayor 
and  Aldermen  to  search  out  these  matters.  For  my 
part,  I  will  do  what  I  can ;  not  out  of  regard  to  mine 
own  office,  whereof  I  be  very  weary,  but  in  respect 
of  that  Church  of  Christ  which  is  most  dear  to  me. 
But  for  this  work  I  am  too  weak ;  yea,  were  all  of 
my  calling  joined  together,  we  were  too  weak.  Our 
estimation  is  little,  our  authority  less.  We  are  be 
come  contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  the  basest  sort  of 
people.  Therefore  do  I  earnestly  beseech  your  Lord 
ship  and  the  other  lords,  to  put  to  your  helping 
hands."1 

So  thoroughly  were  these  prelates  frightened  by 
the  foreshadowing  of  Presbyterianism.  It  is  notice 
able  that  it  was  not  a  "  tendency  to  the  ruin  of"  the 
Christian  "  religion  "  which  the  Primate  saw  in  "  the 
discipline  labored  for " ;  and  that  that  "  Church  of 
Christ  most  dear  to  Sandys,  for  which  he  would  do 
what  he  could,"  was  not  the  very,  the  spiritual  Church; 
for  they  acknowledged  Presbytery  in  Scotland,  and 
Presbytery  in  Geneva,  and  Presbytery  in  France 
and  in  Germany,  and  even  Presbytery  of  foreigners 
in  their  own  streets,  to  be  of  the  true  Church  of 
Christ.  It  was  the  English  Church  for  which  they 
trembled,  —  the  Establishment,  —  the  authority,  the 
lordship,  the  revenues,  the  prelacy ;  and  yet  not 
these  only,  but  —  as  Whitgift  had  proclaimed  and 
Parker  echoed  —  the  very  order  of  civil  government. 

1  Strype's  Parker,  428. 


456  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.       [CH.  XVI. 

Nor  was  this  a  mere  hue  and  cry  raised  for  sinister 
purposes,  to  excite  odium  and  stimulate  severity. 
But  "  our  Archbishop  and  two  other  bishops  espe 
cially,  who  stirred  more  than  the  rest  against  the 
Puritans/'1  were  honest  in  sounding  this  alarm. 
Scared  by  the  attack  upon  their  own  order,  their 
political  sagacity  was  quickened;  and,  in  disobedi 
ence  to  governors  in  things  indifferent,2  they  scented 
an  insidious  principle,  —  of  which  the  innovators 
themselves  had  not  yet  dreamed,  —  at  war,  not  in 
deed  with  monarchy,  but  with  monarchy  as  it  was. 
Therefore  they  said,  "  that  her  Highness's  sword 
should  be  compelled  to  cut  off  this  stubborn  multi 
tude."3 

Such  being  their  defensive  position,  and  such  their 
political  apprehensions,  we  can  easily  account  for  a 
long  train  of  judicial  severities  without  supposing 
either  the  prelacy  or  the  crown  to  have  been  moved 
purely  by  a  love  of  tyranny  or  a  spirit  of  malice. 
Two  fabrics  were  interlaced.  The  zealot  partisans 
of  the  structure  saw  not  how  the  one  could  be  taken 
down  without  ruin  to  the  other.  It  had  not  entered 
their  conception,  that  monarchy  might  be  limited, 
and  be  monarchy  still ;  nor  into  that  of  any,  that 
religion  could  live  with  only  God  for  its  defence, — 
that  the  Church  might  be  independent  of  the  State, 
and  be  still  the  Church.  The  prayer  of  the  very 
Admonition  was,  that  its  model  might  be  established 
~by  law.  Herein  all  parties  were  agreed.  Herein  all 
were  wrong.  They  were  gladiators,  thrusting  in  the 
dark. 

Guided  by  effete  maxims  and  rheumy  vision,  the 

1  Strype's  Parker,  389.  2  Ibid.,  312.  3  Ibid.,  313. 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  457 

Commissioners  pushed  their  vocation  with  vigor. 
They  pressed  the  ecclesiastical  garments;1  and,  upon 
the  forced  construction  of  the  late  statute,  they  de 
manded  subscription  to  all  "  the  Articles  of  Eeligion  " 
all  over  the  kingdom,  by  which  many  were  deprived 
of  their  benefices  and  ecclesiastical  preferments, — 
not  less  than  one  hundred  in  1571-2.2  Nor  was 
this  all ;  for  during  the  same  time  "  great  numbers 
of  both  sexes  all  over  the  realm,  who  were  suspected  of 
religion  not  agreeable  to  the  state,  were  committed 
to  close  prison";3  while,  sometimes  at  least,  a  Pa 
pist  transgressor,  if  discovered,  had  the  free  range  of 
prison,  and  could  receive  his  friends,  or  was  restrained 
only  to  a  bishop's  palace,  a  courtly  bedchamber,  and 
a  sumptuous  board.4  So  little  did  the  inquisitors 
look  within  the  cup  and  platter,  so  easily  were  they 
satisfied  with  ceremonial  innocence  where  Puritanism 
was  not  suspected,  that  Popish  priests  who  "  could 
swallow  the  Oath  of  Supremacy  and  subscribe  the 
Articles  "  still  passed  without  censure,  and  held  their 
livings  and  preferments ;  and  Popish  agents  sped 
their  errands,  and  found  sly  encouragement,  within 
the  very  walls  of  the  palace.5  We  say,  "where 
Puritanism  was  not  suspected " ;  for  where  it  was, 
even  the  cap  and  surplice,  and  peaceful  submission 
to  the  calling  of  bishops,  could  not  shield  from  an 
noyance  and  persecution.6 

On  the  30th  of  August,  1572,7  the  people  of  Lon- 

1  Strype's  Parker,  324.  6  Strype's  Parker,  353,  354,  370. 

2  Strype's  Annals,  III.  106,  276,        6  Ibid.,  380,  compared  with  An- 
277.     Neal,  I.  121.  nals,  III.  414. 

3  Strype's  Parker,  354,  355.  7  Taylor's   Romantic   Biography, 
*  Strype's  Annals,  III.  303.               I.  167. 

VOL.  I.  58 


458  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.       [On.  XVI. 

don  were  startled  by  a  vague  rumor  of  some  terrible 
doings  in  France.  The  rumor  was  of  some  wild  and 
lawless  slaughter;  and  soon  came  despatches,  and 
French  refugees  penniless,  wayworn,  haggard,  and 
half  frantic  with  fright,  confirming  the  horrible  re 
port  of  a  wholesale  massacre  of  Protestants. 

It  had  been  well  known  that  Henry  of  Navarre 
was  about  to  wed  the  princess  Margaret  of  Yalois, — 
that  the  French  king  had  given  out  that  he  was 
tired  of  religious  wars,  and  would  inaugurate  upon 
this  marriage  a  lasting  peace  between  Huguenot  and 
Papist,  —  for  princes  of  Germany  and  the  highest  no 
bles  of  the  English  Court  had  been  invited  to  grace 
the  nuptials.  The  Huguenots  had  believed,  and 
had  flocked  to  Paris.  The  marriage  had  been  solem 
nized  on  the  18th ;  five  days  of  festivity  had  fol 
lowed;  when  a  midnight  toll  from  the  bell  of  St. 
Germain  d'Auxervis  gave  the  signal  for  treachery, 
and  ten  thousand  Protestants  fell  under  blade  and 
bullet  within  the  walls  of  Paris.  When  the  fugitives 
made  their  escape  for  England,  "La  belle  France" 
was  smoking  with  blood,  for  the  work  was  not  stayed 
in  Paris.  Twenty  thousand  additional  victims  fell  in 
the  provincial  towns.1 

Great  were  the  rejoicings  at  Eome.  The  bearer 
of  the  news  thither  received  rich  largess  from  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine ;  the  cannon  of  St.  Angelo  thun 
dered  applause;  Gregory  XIII.  and  his  cardinals 
went  "with  the  greatest  devotion"  to  the  Church 
of  St.  Mark,  where  a  solemn  Mass  and  Te  Deum 

1  The  whole  number  has  been  dred  thousand,  by  others.  Camden, 
rated  as  low  as  twenty  thousand  by  187.  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  pp.  103,  104. 
some  historians,  as  high  as  a  hun-  Neal,  I.  127.  Hume,  III.  90. 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.  459 

were  celebrated,  special  "  thanksgiving  was  rendered 
to  God  the  Creator  for  this  great  mercy  to  his 
Church,  and  prayer  was  offered  that  he  would  give 
grace  and  virtue  to  the  Most  Christian  King,  his 
dear  son,  Charles  IX.  of  France,  to  pursue  so  salutary 
and  blessed  an  enterprise." l  His  Holiness  caused  a 
medal  to  be  struck,  in  commemoration  of  "  a  mercy  " 
so  signal,  representing  the  Protestants  falling  under 
the  sword  of  an  angel  from  heaven.2  He  also  issued 
a  bull  for  a  jubilee  to  be  observed,  "  chiefly  for  the 
happy  success  of  the  Most  Christian  King  against 
the  heretics."3 

The  Court  of  Elizabeth  was  clad  in  mourning, 
and  her  people  were  in  consternation.  They  saw 
in  this  exploit,  not  only  a  new  eruption  of  that 
deadly  spirit  which  Rome  had  so  long  avowed,  but 
the  first  grand  act  in  that  conspiracy  of  extermi 
nation  which  had  been  devised  in  the  Council  of 
Trent,  and  discussed  at  Bayonne.4  The  Lord  Treas 
urer  Burleigh  acknowledged  himself  "at  his  wits' 
end,"  and  "  our  Archbishop  said  that  he  gave  him 
self  over  as  a  man  to  be  carried  away  with  the 
floods." 5  A  like  onslaught,  it  was  believed,  was 
intended  for  England;  to  begin  with  the  assassina 
tion  of  the  queen  by  poison  or  the  dagger.6  The 
nation  was  fearfully  agitated.  They  loudly  cursed 
the  Pope  and  his  royal  confederates ; 7  they  publicly 
insulted  the  French  ambassador  and  his  suite ; 8  and 

1  The  Pope's  bull;   Strype's  Par-        4  Ibid.,  351,  357.      Haynes,  471. 
ker,  351,   and  Appendix  LXVIII.     Carte,    III.     522.     Hume,  HI.  91. 
Lingard  is  silent  as  to  this  docu-    Hallam,  87,  note. 

ment.  5  Strype's  Parker,  352. 

2  Life  of  Henry  IV.,  by  James,        6  Ibid.,  357. 

I.  337,  note  (New  York,  1847).  7  Fenelon's  Despatch,  Sept.  13th. 

3  Strype's  Parker,  351.  8  Taylor,  I.  169. 


460  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 

the  gentry  and  nobility  clamored  to  be  sent  in 
arms  against  the  perfidious  French.1  Yet  the  queen 
herself  was  considered  strangely  apathetic;2  for, 
though  she  fortified  Portsmouth,  put  her  fleet  in 
order,  and  established  military  drills,3  yet  "she 
showed  her  Popish  subjects  much  favor,"  and  Greg 
ory's  "imps,"  as  his  Grace  of  Canterbury  called 
them,  had  access  to  her  palace,  and  were  slyly  en 
couraged  there  still.4  True,  the  Council  straitened 
the  condition  of  the  few  Papists  under  arrest  for 
ecclesiastical  causes,5  but  that  was  an  insignificant 
measure ;  they  called  for  a  general  census  of  recu 
sant  Papists,  but  the  Archbishop  replied,  that  it  could 
not  be  effected,  for  their  name  was  Legion ; 6  they 
also  made  some  search  for  priests,  but  if  any  were 
taken,  they  found  friends  at  Court,  and  so  escaped.7 

While  the  nation  was  thus  agitated  by  the  double 
peril  of  a  Catholic  conspiracy  and  a  Catholic  suc 
cessor,  the  queen  was  seized  with  sudden  and  vio 
lent  sickness,  on  the  15th  of  October;8  and  though 
of  but  a  day's  duration,  it  excited  intense  and  pro 
tracted  alarm  among  her  subjects,  for  the  peace  of 
the  kingdom  and  the  fate  of  the  Reformation  hung 
upon  her  life.9 

1  Hume,  III.  93.  no  further  notice  of  this  mysterious 

2  Strype's  Parker,  353.  sickness.      I  therefore  assign  to  a 

3  Camden,  189.     Carte,  III.  522.  note  a  topic  which  I  have  no  incli- 

4  Strype's  Parker,  352,  353,  354.  nation  to  discuss,  and  which  neces- 

5  Ibid.,  354.  sarily  opens  the  whole   subject  of 

6  Ibid.,  355.  Elizabeth's  equivocal  deportment  to- 

7  Ibid.,  359.  wards  her  favorites. 

8  Cecil's  Journal;    Murdin,   773.         Strype   says    (Annals,   III.  319) 
Wright,  I.  445;  Sir  Thomas  Smith  that  this  sickness  of  the  queen  "gave 
to  Burleigh.  again  a  mighty  disturbance  unto  her 

9  Strype's  Annals,  III.  319.  subjects."       He    then    quotes,   but 
It  would  be  disingenuous  to  take     without  a   word  of  comment,   the 


CH.  XVI.J       THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT. 


461 


At  the  same  time,  the  religious  condition  of  the 
realm  was  deplorable.  The  royal  household  was 
a  coverture  for  epicures  and  atheists;  the  bishops 
and  the  clergy  —  with  some  exceptions  —  were 


very  remarkable  letter  of  Leicester, 
which  I  give  below  ;  and  says  that 
her  Majesty's  illness  was  "  fainting 
fits  " !  Camden  says  that  it  was  the 
small-pox.  So  says  Echard.  Cecil, 
in  his  Journal,  says,  she  "  appeared 
to  have  the  small-pox,  but  recovered 
speedily."  (Murdin,  773.)  Neal  — 
to  make  sure  of  the  truth  —  says, 
"  fainting-fits  and  small-pox."  The 
queen  herself  pretended  to  have  had 
symptoms  of  small-pox.  (The  Queen 
to  Shrewsbury  ;  Lodge,  II.  79.) 

No  considerate  reader  will  be 
satisfied  with  these  statements  after 
reading  the  following  letters,  —  the 
only  ones  of  the  time  relating  to 
the  affair,  which  it  has  been  my  lot 
to  find,  —  and  perceiving  that  the 
sickness  was  of  less  than  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  yet  excited  some 
kind  of  popular  disturbance. 

Sir  Thomas  Smith  wrote  to  the 
Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh  as  follows : 
"  Her  Majestic  hathe  bene  very 
sick  this  last  night,  so  that  my  lord 
of  Leicester  did  watche  with  her 
all  night.  This  morning,  thanks  be 
to  God,  she  is  very  well.  It  was 
but  a  soden  pang.  From  Wynde- 
sor  the  15  of  October,  1572."  — 
Wright,  I.  445  ;  from  Harleian  MS. 
6991,  7. 

We  have  also  the  following  from 
Leicester  to  Walsingham,  who  was 
then  in  Paris.  Strype,  by  mistake, 
considers  it  as  having  been  written 
at  the  time  of  the  queen's  sickness, 
instead  of  —  at  least  —  seventeen 
days  after. 


"  We  have  no  news  here,  only 
her  Majesty  is  in  good  health  ;  and 
though  you  may  hear  brutes  of  the 
contrary,  I  assure  you  it  is  not  as 
hath  been  reported.  Somewhat  her 
Majesty  hath  been  troubled  with  a 
spice  or  shew  of  the  mother,  but  in 
deed  not  so :  the  fits  that  she  hath 
had  hath  not  been  above  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  but  yet  this  little  hath 
bred  strange  brutes  here  at  home. 
God  send  her,  I  beseech  him,  a  long 
life.  So  I  bid  you  heartily  farewell 
the — day  of  November,  1572.  Your 
assured  Friend  Ro  :  Leicester."  — 
Digges,  288. 

This  language  is  obscure ;  per 
haps  designedly  so.  Yet  it  can  only 
be  understood  as  a  libel  upon  the 
queen's  virginity ;  for  though  the 
writer  denies  her  actual,  or  com 
pleted  maternity,  he  avers  that 
rumors  of  it  were  abroad,  and  were 
fairly  occasioned  by  the  peculiar 
type  of  her  Majesty's  illness.  If  it 
were  not  of  such  a  type,  it  is  difficult 
to  suppose  a  sufficient  motive  for  a 
villain  so  wary  in  his  crimes  to  pen 
so  perilous  a  lie.  If  it  were  of  such 
a  type,  it  is  equally  difficult  to  sup 
pose  a  sufficient  motive  for  need 
lessly  disclosing  —  instead  of  deny 
ing  —  so  perilous  a  secret. 

To  say  that  this  letter  tallies  with 
allegations  from  other  sources,  and 
at  other  tunes,  against  Elizabeth's 
purity,  is  to  say  nothing  of  moment, 
unless  these  allegations  rest  on  such 
evidence  as  the  peculiarities  of  the 
case  demand.  To  say  how  Thomas 


462 


THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.        [Cn.  XVI. 


wasting  the  patrimonies  of  the  Church,  heaping  to 
themselves  benefices,  and  residing  away  from  their 
cures,  and  there  was  "a  famine  in  the  land,  —  the 
fair  virgins  and  young  men  fainting  for  thirst, — 


Parry  and  Katherine  Ashley  testi 
fied  to  "  odd  familiarities  "  —  too 
gross  for  repetition  here  —  in  which 
the  Lord  Admiral  Seymour  indulged 
toward  Elizabeth  in  her  teens,  is 
only  to  declare  li  is  coarse  indecency, 
and  to  reveal  how  the  orphan  prin 
cess  cowered  and  wept  while  under 
his  roof  and  wardship.  Through 
all  the  repulsive  details  of  the  Ad 
miral's  trial,  not  a  shadow  is  cast 
upon  her  maidenly  modesty.  (Os- 
borne,  76.  Haynes,  96  -  100.) 

To  say,  that  reports  against  Eliz 
abeth's  womanly  honor  were  current, 
after  her  accession  to  the  throne,  in 
the  Courts  of  France  and  Spain,  is 
only  to  say  that  she  had  enemies 
there,  and  that  they  shot  whither 
they  most  might  wound.  To  say 
that  Henry  IV.,  "in  a  jovial  hu 
mor,"  declared  three  things  to  be  in 
scrutable, —  whether  Maurice,  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  never 
fought  a  battle,  were  valiant ;  what 
religion  he  himself  was  of;  and 
whether  Queen  Elizabeth  were  a 
maid  or  no  (Osborne,  76),  —  is  only 
to  say  that  he  could  crack  a  joke  as 
readily  against  her  womanhood  as 
against  his  own  manhood. 

Many  scandalous  reports  were 
circulated  about  her  Majesty  and 
the  Earl  of  Leicester;  no  better 
proof  of  whose  existence  can  be 
given  than  a  memorandum  of  Cecil, 
dated  April,  1566,  containing  rea 
sons  against  their  marriage  ;  one  of 
which  is,  "  that  it  will  be  thought 
that  the  slanderous  speeches  of  the 


queen  with  the  Earl  have  been 
true."  (Haynes,  444.)  Like  sayings 
were  current  respecting  the  queen 
and  Hatton.  According  to  Berney's 
confession  to  Lord  Leicester,  writ 
ten  January  29,  1571-2,  among  the 
traitorous  speeches  of  a  person  called 
Mather  was  this, — "  that  'the  queen 
desireth  nothing  but  to  feed  her 
own  lewd  fantasy,  and  to  cut  off 
such  of  her  nobility  as  were  not 
perfumed  and  court-like  to  please 
her  delicate  eye,  and  place  such  as 
were  for  her  turn,'  meaning  dancers, 
and  meaning  you,  my  Lord  of  Lei 
cester,  and  one  Mr.  Hatton,  whom, 
he  said,  'had  more  recourse  unto 
her  Majesty  in  her  privy  chamber 
than  reason  would  suffer  if  she  were 
so  virtuous  and  well  inclined  as 
some  noiseth  her  ' ;  with  other  such 
vile  words  as  I  am  ashamed  to 
speak,  much  more  to  write."  (Mur- 
din,  203  -  214.  Life  of  Hatton,  14.) 
"I  am,  I  think  credibly,  informed," 
wrote  Archbishop  Parker  to  Bur- 
leigh  in  September  of  this  year,  — 
1572,  —  «  that  the  Mayor  of  Dover 
brought  up  a  strange  body  to  be 
examined,  of  whom  I  hear  that,  be 
cause  your  Lordship  could  have  no 
leisure,  ye  committed  the  examina 
tion  to  Mr.  Sommers  "  —  Clerk  of 
the  Council  —  "  and  to  this  Mayor, 
and  he  hath  it  in  writing  that  this 
villain  should  utter  most  shameful 
words  against  her  Majesty ;  viz.  that 
the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  Mr.  Hat- 
ton  should  be  such  towards  her,  as 
the  matter  is  so  horrible,  that  they 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PAKLIAMENT. 


463 


not  a  famine  for  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for  water,  but 
of  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord." l  A  great  many 
parishes  were  without  parson,  vicar,  or  curate ;  the 
people  were  neglecting  Divine  worship,  and  pro- 


would  not  write  down  the  words, 
but  would  have  uttered  them  to 
your  Lordship  if  ye  would  have 
been  at  leisure."  (Wright,  I.  440.) 
"  But  this  villain  notwithstanding 
was  delivered  and  sent  home, 
to  the  rejoicing  of  his  friends." 
(Strype's  Parker,  356.) 

It  is  also  said,  that  "the  Duke 
of  Anjou  alleged  the  notoriety  of 
Elizabeth's  incontinence  as  his  rea 
son  for  refusing  to  marry  her," 
(Life  of  Hatton,  16,)  —  which,  if 
true,  proves  the  notoriety,  but  noth 
ing  more. 

But  the  scandal  concerning  her 
Majesty  did  not  rest  here.  It  went 
to  the  utmost  length. 

In  1570,  one  Marsham  was  sen 
tenced  —  according  to  1  &  2  Philip 
and  Mary,  Cap.  III.,  revived  by  1 
Eliz.  Cap.  VI.  —  to  lose  both  his  ears 
or  pay  a  fine  of  a  hundred  pounds, 
for  saying  that  "  my  Lord  of  Leices 
ter  had  two  children  by  the  queen." 

(Lodge,  II.  47 ; to  the  Countess 

of  Shrewsbury.  Life  of  Hatton,  14.) 
In  January,  1572-3,  one  Blosse  was 
arrested  for  saying  that  the  queen 
was  married  to  the  Earl  of  Leices 
ter  about  1564,  and  had  had  four 
children  by  him.  On  the  question 
whether  his  crime  could  be  found 
treason,  no  law  was  found  to  prose 
cute  him,  says  Strype.  (Annals, 
III.  355,  356.)  In  1576,  the  Privy 
Council  ordered  the  Lord  Mayor 
of  Chester  to  discharge  a  man  con 


fined  in  the  Northgate  for  assert 
ing  that  Queen  Elizabeth  had  two 
bastards  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester. 
(Chronology  in  Prichard's  Chester 
Guide,  1851.)  About  January, 
1587-8,  there  appeared  in  Madrid  a 
young  man  calling  himself  Arthur 
Dudley,  and  aged  apparently  about 
twenty-seven  years, —  born,  there 
fore,  about  1560, — who  gave  out  that 
he  was  a  son  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester 
by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  who  nar 
rated  how  he  had  been  concealed 
and  educated  since  his  secret  birth 
at  Hampton  Court.  The  king  of 
Spain,  of  course,  countenanced  this 
man's  pretensions,  and  gave  him  a 
pension  of  six  crowns,  nearly  two 
pounds  sterling  a  day,  with  a  suit 
able  establishment.  (Ellis,  2d  Se 
ries,  III.  134,  from  Harleian  MS.) 
Lingard  (Note  S,  Vol.  VIII.)  treats 
the  story  of  this  pretender  rather 
solemnly. 

The  haters  of  Elizabeth's  gov 
ernment  and  religion  had  motives 
enough  to  originate  and  foster  such 
tales ;  which  alone  is  sufficient  to 
account  for  them.  The  defamer 
of  whom  the  Archbishop  wrote  to 
Burleigh  in  1572,  was  unquestion 
ably  a  partisan  of  the  Popish  con 
spiracy  against  the  English  govern 
ment,  as  appears  from  Strype's  Par 
ker,  356  5  and  Blosse  acknowledged 
that  he  received  his  story  from  a 
Popish  priest  (Strype's  Annals,  HI. 
355).  But  from  whatever  source 


Amos  viii.  11-13. 


464 


THE  ADMONITION  TO  BAKLIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 


faning  the  Lord's  day;  and  the  very  churches  and 
chapels  were  falling  to  decay,  and  becoming  re 
ceptacles  of  uncleanness.1 

Under  all  these  peculiar  circumstances,  in  what 


these  slanders  may  have  originated, 
they  are  supported  by  no  testimony 
but  that  of  partisan  fame,  which 
weighs  nothing  in  comparison  with 
the  utter  improbability  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  should  have  been  so  de 
mented  by  illicit  passion  as  to  haz 
ard  for  its  indulgence  her  womanly 
reputation,  her  popularity,  as  dear 
to  her  as  her  prerogative,  and  her 
life.  Of  the  latter,  there  would,  to 
be  sure,  have  been  no  peril,  if  Sir 
James  Melvil's  "  conjecture  "  about 
her  "inability"  were  correct.  (Me 
moirs,  63.) 

It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that 
there  was  other  cause  for  these  libels 
than  political  and  religious  hatred. 

As  has  been  stated,  ante,  p.  248, 
regardless  of  appearances,  Elizabeth 
allowed  Leicester  such  lodgings  in 
her  own  palace  as  would  naturally 
give  rise  to  scandal.  Her  familiari 
ties  with  his  person  were  undoubt 
edly  inconsistent  with  our  views  of 
female  propriety.  A  single  instance 
of  this  is  sufficient.  Sir  James  Mel- 
vil,  who  was  present  when  her  Ma 
jesty  created  the  favorite  Baron  of 
Denbigh  and  Earl  of  Leicester,  in 
forms  us  that,  while  "  she  herself 
helped  to  put  on  his  ceremonial,  he 
sitting  on  his  knees  before  her  with 
great  gravity,  she  could  not  refrain 
from  putting  her  hand  in  his  neck 
smilingly  tickling  him,  the  French 
ambassador  and  I  standing  by." 
(Memoirs,  94.) 


In  reference  to  such  things,  Sir 
Thomas  Chaloner  wrote  to  Cecil,  so 
early  as  December  6,  1559,  that  "it 
became  so  young  a  princess  to  be 
wary  what  countenance  or  familiar 
demonstration  she  gave  to  one  more 
than  to  another,  for  it  ministered 
matter  to  lewd  tongues."  (Haynes, 
212.) 

Hatton  appeared  at  her  court 
about  1562  ;  handsome,  tall,  grace 
ful,  of  elegant  manners,  and,  what 
particularly  pleased  the  queen,  an 
accomplished  dancer.  (Life  of  Hat- 
ton,  4.)  When  absent  from  her 
Court,  he  was  permitted  to  address 
her  in  the  language  of  an  ardent 
and  successful  lover  ;  and  from  the 
style  of  his  letters  it  is  fair  to  infer 
what  were  the  familiarities,  or  at 
least  the  tender  courtesies,  which 
passed  between  them  when  together. 
For  an  example,  take  the  following, 
written  when  he  was  on  the  Conti 
nent  for  his  health,  in  June,  1573 : — 

"  In  reading  your  gracious  letters 
....  with  my  tears  I  blot  them. 
In  thinking  of  them,  I  feel  so  great 
comfort,  that  I  find  cause,  as  God 
knoweth,  to  thank  you  on  my  knees. 
Death  had  been  much  more  my  ad 
vantage,  than  to  win  health  and  life 
by  so  loathsome  a  pilgrimage.  The 
time  of  two  days  hath  drawn  me 
further  from  you  than  ten,  when  I 
return,  can  lead  me  towards  you. 
....  No  death,  no,  not  hell,  no 
fear  of  death,  shall  ever  win  of  me 


Strype's  Parker,  395,  396  ;  Burleigh's  Memoranda. 


CH.  XVI.]        THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT. 


465 


way  were  the  energies  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Com 
missioners  employed  ?  In  providing  an  antidote  to 
Papistry,  a  corrective  of  irreligion,  licentiousness,  and 
practical  atheism,  and  nourishment  for  the  Refor 
mation,  by  the  vigorous  preaching  of  the  Gospel? 
There  was,  indeed,  a  special  prayer  devised  for 
repentance  and  mercy;  another,  for  deliverance 
from  enemies ;  another,  with  thanksgiving,  for  the 
preservation  of  the  queen  ;  and  another,  "  relating  to 
the  apprehension  of  danger "  and  to  the  persecution 
of  foreign  Protestants ; 1  —  but  instead  of  laboring 
for  that  for  which  they  prayed,  instead  of  bridling 
immorality  and  fostering  piety,  instead  of  sending 
out  ardent  men  girded  with  the  sword  of  the 


my  consent  so  far  to  -wrong  myself 
again  as  to  be  absent  from  you  one 

day Would  God  I  were  with 

you  but  for  one  hour Bear 

with  me,  my  most  dear,  sweet  lady. 
Passion  overcometh  me.  I  can  write 
no  more.  Love  me,  for  I  love  you. 
God,  I  beseech  thee,  witness  the 
same  on  the  behalf  of  thy  poor  ser 
vant.  Once  again  I  crave  pardon, 
and  so  bid  your  own  poor  Lidds 
farewell.  1573,  June.  Your  bond 
man  everlastingly  tied,  Ch.  Hatton." 
—  Life  of  Hatton,  25,  26. 

This  needs  no  explanation,  except 
to  say  that  her  Majesty  had  pet 
names  for  most  of  her  ministers  and 
favorites.  Thus  Burleigh  was  her 
Spirit ;  Walsinghani,  her  Moon  ; 
Lady  Norris,  her  Crow ;  Hatton,  her 
Lidds,  probably  because  of  some  pe 
culiarity  in  his  eyelids,  her  Mut 
ton,  and  her  Bell-wether.  So  they 
sometimes  styled  themselves.  (Ibid., 
126,  note,  275.) 

With  these  few  and  meagre  state- 
VOL.  i.  59 


ments,  I  leave  the  reader  to  solve  the 
enigmatical  letter  of  "  that  terres 
trial  Lucifer,  Leicester,"  (Osborne, 
42,)  only  remarking,  —  1.  That  in 
the  business  of  railing  accusation 
the  Devil  could  beat  Michael,  the 
archangel  (Jude,  9);  2.  That,  in 
such  delicate  cases  especially,  it  is 
easier  plausibly  to  allege  a  hundred 
affirmatives,  than  to  prove  one  neg 
ative  ;  and,  3.  That  the  very  strong 
est  evidence  is  necessary  to  satisfy  a 
candid  mind  that  a  woman  in  Eliz 
abeth's  position,  of  her  masculine 
character,  who  as  a  sovereign  had 
almost  imperative  inducements  to 
marry,  would  have  refused  every 
offered  opportunity  of  honorable 
issue,  and  yet  have  incurred  the 
double  risk  of  that  which  would  have 
been  infamous.  Even  licentious 
ness  the  most  extravagant  would 
have  sought,  under  such  circum 
stances,  a  conventional  screen  for 
its  crimes. 

1  Strype's  Parker,  358. 


466  THE  ADMONITION  TO  PARLIAMENT.       [Cn.  XVI. 

Spirit,  and  in  the  name  of  "judgment,  mercy,  and 
faith,"  the  lord-keepers  of  souls  were  toiling  for 
66  external  matters  in  religion," l  and  smiting  hip 
and  thigh  the  loyal  subjects  of  the  queen,  the  ripe 
scholars  of  the  schools,  the  earnest  ministers  of 
Christ. 

The  "seditious"  religionists  were  becoming  formi 
dable.  They  were  worshipping  God,  like  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego,  contrary  to  the  royal  de 
cree  ;  "  reading  prayers  different  from  the  estab 
lished  order " ;  and  they  were  issuing  their  books 
plentifully,  for  the  Commissioners  could  not  find 
their  press.  These  things  "  gave  great  grief  to  the 
Archbishop  and  the  other  good  bishops,"  and  great 
offence  to  the  queen;  so  that  they  began  to  be 
"pretty  brisk  upon  these  men,"  whom  they  "knew 
to  be  cowards."  Being  "pretty  brisk"  meant  "prose 
cuting  the  Puritans  more  vigorously  than  before." 2 

1  Strype's  Parker,  395.  2  Ibid.,  325,  388,  389,  412,  421,  422. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

"PRETTY  BRISK."     (ARCHBISHOP  PARKER.) 

REASONS  FOR  DISCIPLINING  PURITANS,  AND  REASONINGS  AGAINST  THEM.  —  THE 
ARCHBISHOP'S  PERPLEXITIES.  —  PERSECUTION  FOR  OPINIONS  OPENED.  —  THE 
NEW  "FANTASIES"  SPREAD.  —  PROCLAMATION  FOR  ENFORCING  THE  ACT  OF 
UNIFORMITY.  —  NEW  ECCLESIASTICAL  COMMISSIONS.  —  THE  COUNCIL  REBUKE 

THE  BISHOPS  FOR  SLACKNESS.  —  CHARGE  TO  THE  COMMISSIONERS. LORD 

BURLEIGH'S  POSITION.  —  TESTS  IMPOSED  BY  THE  COMMISSIONERS.  —  MINIS 
TERS   SILENCED  AND  IMPRISONED.  —  "THE  PHYSICIANS  THEMSELVES   SICK." 

1573. 

WHAT  right  have  these  castle-builders  to  think? 
What  right  to  think  the  structure  und  discipline  of 
the  primitive  Church  the  only  model  for  the  British 
Church,  fifteen  hundred  years  gone  by  ?  What  right 
to  stick  doggedly  to  the  New  Testament  as  the  rule 
of  ecclesiastical  policy,  all  written  whenas  there  was 
no  magistrate  in  the  Church,  and  so  no  magistrate 
to  whom  the  appointment  of  the  clergy  and  the  reg 
ulation  of  worship  could  appertain  ?  The  earliest 
Church  with  a  prince  is  the  proper  model  for  the  pres 
ent  Church  with  a  prince.  Therefore,  that  Church, 
speaking  through  its  fathers,  should  be,  in  such  mat 
ters,  our  sacred  oracle,  and  theirs.1 

The  accidental  points  of  ecclesiastical  policy  are  to 
be  framed  as  they  may  best  agree  to  that  common 
wealth  where  the  Gospel  is  received,  so  they  be  not 

1  Whitgift's  argument. 


468  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cu.  XVII. 

against  the  Word  of  God,  but  tend  to  comeliness  and 
edification.1 

But  these  new  builders'  devices  are  for  a  building 
which  hitherto,  we  think,  in  no  Christian  nation 
under  kingly  rule  hath  found  any  foundation  upon 
earth ;  but  now,  and  for  a  princely  state,  it  is  framed 
upon  suppositions  in  the  air,  full  of  absurdities  and 
impossibilities.  It  is  high  time  that  such  naughty 
opinions  should  be  whipped,  for  they  be  most  plausi 
ble  to  a  great  number  of  the  people,  who  labor  to 
live  in  all  liberty,  —  an  unfit  thing,  bringing  confus 
ion,  —  and  do  make  them  hate  the  bishops,  a  thing 
both  uncomely  and  uncomfortable.2 

It  is  high  time  for  these  opinions  to  be  schooled,  for 
the  number  is  grown  great  of  dealers  in  this  action. 
Some  whereof,  doubtless,  be  both  honest  and  learned, 
though  other  some  be  puffed  up  with  vainglory,  and 
have  great  delight  to  hear  themselves  talk.  Greater 
the  number  of  those  that  favor  them  •  whereof  some 
it  seemeth  are  persuaded  that  they  hold  with  the 
Truth,  and  so  in  conscience  incline  unto  them. 
Others,  no  doubt,  are  Papists  indeed ;  and,  because 
they  dare  not  openly  promote  Popery,  egg  these 
men  forward  secretly  to  deface  the  Gospel.  Other 
are  atheists,  —  as  Leicester  and  the  like  greedy  cour 
tiers, —  and  set  them  on  only  because  they  them 
selves  gape  for  the  spoil  of  the  clergy,  which  they 
hope  most  easily  to  bring  to  pass  under  color  of 
reformation.3 


1  Hutton    to    Burleigh,    Oct.   6,        s  Hutton  to  Burleigh  ;   Murdin, 
1573  5  Murdin,  264.  261,  262. 

2  Parker  and  Sandys's  Circular ; 
Strype's  Parker,  433,  434. 


Cu.  XVIL]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  469 

It  is  high  time  for  these  opinions  to  be  schooled, 
because,  moreover,  they  be  dangerous.  These  re 
formers  run  counter  to  God's  vicegerent,  Elizabeth. 
They  would  take  authority  in  causes  ecclesiastical 
from  the  Queen's  Majesty,  and  give  it  to  themselves, 
with  the  grave  seniory  or  elders  of  every  parish. 
For  by  the  seniory  would  they  have  every  cause 
debated  when  any  ariseth  in  the  congregation.  If 
the  elders  cannot  end  it,  then  it  is  to  be  debated  by 
the  ministers  and  seniory  of  parishes  adjoining.  If 
these  cannot  end  it,  it  is  to  be  debated  by  a  national 
council.  If  the  national  council  cannot,  then  by  a 
general  council  of  all  the  Churches  Reformed.  They 
make  no  mention  of  the  queen's  authority ;  and  yet, 
we  warrant  ye,  could  they  once  get  on  foot,  they 
would  be  mighty  eager  for  her  authority,  and  have 
her  draw  forth  her  sword  and  see  that  this  order  of 
theirs  be  kept.  This  she  hath  to  do,  and  more  than 
this  she  hath  not  to  do,  if  we  believe  some  of  them.1 

Furthermore,  whereas  we  say,  that  it  is  a  parcel  of 
the  queen's  authority,  in  causes  ecclesiastical,  to  ap 
point  bishops  and  archbishops,  and  other  ministers, 
either  by  herself  or  other  wise  and  learned,  and  to 
remove  them  if  they  do  not  their  duty,  these  men 
would  not  only  have  an  equality  of  ministers  (the 
mother  of  confusion  and  nurse  of  contention),  but 
also  would  deprive  the  Queen's  Highness  of  this 
authority,  and  give  it  to  the  people ;  that  every 
parish  should  choose  their  own  minister.  "Which  law 
would  bring  about  another  hurly-burly,  worse  than 
hath  been  about  garments ;  for  were  it  put  in  prac 
tice  in  this  country,  divers  parishes  would  have  none 

1  Button  ;  in  Murdin,  262. 


470  "  PKETTY  BRISK."  [Cu.  XVII. 

but  a  Papist ;  others  would  have  the  best  companion 
at  tables,  —  not  the  best  preacher  in  the  pulpit. 
And  whereas  they  allege  that  the  Apostles,  ty  voices 
and  lifting  up  the  hands  of  the  people,  did  appoint  minis 
ters  in  every  church,  though  that  were  granted  (for 
there  are  divers  opinions),  yet  doth  not  that  bind  the 
Church  but  that  ministers  may  be  appointed  other 
ways ;  for  neither  were  there  at  that  time  any  mag 
istrates  to  whose  office  it  did  appertain.  But  now, 
seeing  we  have  a  Christian  prince,  she,  by  the  advice 
of  the  sage  Council  of  the  realm,  and  the  counsel 
of  the  grave  fathers  of  the  Church ,  can  better  dis 
cern  whom  to  place  over  Christ's  flock,  than  the  mul 
titude,  which  have  commonly  many  heads,  many 
wits,  but  not  the  best  judgment.1 

In  a  popular  state  it  is  meet  the  people  should 
rule ;  under  an  oligarchy,  the  wise  and  grave  mag 
istrates.  But  in  a  kingdom,  the  people  may  not  bear 
the  sway  without  doing  injury  to  the  prince  that 
represented  the  person  of  God.  Therefore,  to  compel 
this  realm  to  all  the  ecclesiastical  polity  of  Geneva, 
which  is  an  oligarchy,  a  state  differing  from  a  king 
dom,  or  to  all  the  accidental  points  of  policy  used  in 
the  Apostles'  time,  (when  there  was  no  Christian 
magistrate  but  great  persecution,)  is  more  than  can 
be  vouched  by  the  Word  of  God,  and  also  dangerous 
to  the  present  state  and  derogatory  to  her  Majesty's 
authority.  For  as  Calvin  liketh  best  of  the  eccle 
siastical  policy  which  agreeth  better  to  a  popular 
state  than  to  a  kingdom,  so  doth  he  hold  an  opinion 
that  the  state  called  Aristocratia,  or  oligarchy,  or 
one  mixed  of  it  and  of  that  which  is  called  Politia, 

1  Hutton  ;  in  Murdin,  264. 


CH.  XVIL]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  471 

or  democracy,  doth  far  excel  all  other  states.  But 
surely,  neither  by  divinity  nor  philosophy  can  it  be 
proved  but  that  a  kingdom  governed  by  good  and 
godly  laws,  and  by  a  prince  that  ruleth  his  subjects  as 
a  father  doth  his  own  children,  is  the  most  excellent 
state  of  all  commonwealths.  This  is  not  to  discredit 
Calvin,  who  surely  was  as  worthy  and  as  learned  a 
man,  and  hath  profited  the  Church  as  much,  as  ever 
did  any  since  the  Apostles'  time ;  but  to  show  that  he 
was  a  man,  and  that,  as  he  thought  not  so  well  of  a 
kingdom  as  of  a  popular  state,  so  did  he  like  best  of 
that  ecclesiastical  policy  which  agreeth  better  to  a 
popular  state  than  to  a  kingdom.1 

These  reformers  speak  profanely  of  the  prince, 
saying  that  she  ruleth  in  the  commonwealth  only  as 
God's  vicegerent,  and  in  the  Church  of  God  is  only 
to  see  that  all  be  ruled  of  the  Lord ;  whereas  in  loth 
she  ruleth  as  vicegerent,  so  that  her  ecclesiastical 
laws  —  not  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  but  tend 
ing  to  edify  the  Church  —  may  not  with  safe  con 
science  be  disobeyed  of  any  'subject,  for  whoso  lifteth 
up  the  heel  against  the  vicegerent  doeth  it  against 
God.  It  is  a  hard  kind  of  doctrine  to  say,  that  the 
prince's  laws,  though  they  be  good,  bind  not  the  con 
science.  True,  some  things  are  simply  good,  some 
simply  evil,  and  some  indifferent ;  and  things  indif 
ferent  do  not  bind  the  conscience.  Albeit  laws  may 
be  made  of  things  indifferent,  for  comeliness  in  the 
Church ;  and  so  things  indifferent  made  not  indiffer 
ent,  but  to  be  obeyed  even  for  conscience'  sake.  This 
kind  of  laws  bindeth  not  the  conscience  in  such  sort 
as  do  the  moral  laws  of  Moses,  whereunto  we  are 

1  Hutton  ;  in  Murdin,  265. 


472  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [On.  XVII. 

always  bound  without  respect  of  time  and  place,  or 
man,  or  man's  law ;  but,  as  the  ceremonies  of  Moses' 
law,  while  they  were  in  force,  might  not  be  violated 
with  a  safe  conscience,  so  the  good  and  godly  laws 
of  princes,  though  they  be  not  given  from  God  im 
mediately,  nor  equal  to  God's  laws,  yet,  because 
they  are  the  lawful  commandments  of  his  anointed 
and  vicegerents  here  on  earth,  may  not  be  broken 
without  disobedience  to  God.  Wherefore  it  be  much 
better  to  say  that  the  good  laws  of  princes  bind  the 
conscience,  than  to  say  with  others  the  contrary; 
though  by  a  quiddity  in  learning  it  might  be  de 
fended.1 

Some  hold  an  opinion  that  the  prince  ought  not 
to  take  away,  by  any  positive  law,  that  liberty  which 
God  hath  given  in  things  indifferent.  This  opinion 
doth  overthrow  many  statutes  of  this  realm,  where- 
unto  we  are  to  obey,  not  for  that  the  things  them 
selves  do  bind  the  conscience,  but  because  they  are 
established  by  lawful  authority.2 

But  these  men  are  marvellously  offended  that 
bishops  are  called  Lords  and  Honorable ;  and  think 
that  those  high  titles  are  usurped  against  God's 
Word,  because  Christ,  answering  to  the  contentious 
ambition  of  the  Apostles,  said,  "The  kings  of  na 
tions  are  lords  over  them,  &c.,  but  ye,  not  so." 
But  if  he  be  called  Lord  which  hath  the  rule  and 
government  over  his  own  house,  or  which  hath 
the  order  over  any  people  or  flock,  as  Joseph  was 
called  Lord  governing  the  Egyptians  under  the  king ; 
if  a  poor  man,  letting  his  ground  or  house  but  for 
five  shillings  a  year,  is  usually  called  land-Lord,  what 

1  Hutton  ;  in  Murdin,  263.  2  Ibid. 


CH.  XVII.]  "  PRETTY  BRISK."  473 

offence  is  it  if  bishops,  having  lands  and  lordships, 
be  called  Lords  ?  More  marvel  is  it  that  men  can 
not  abide  their  being  called  Honorable.  St.  Paul 
seemeth  not  to  be  so  precise :  "  Let  the  elders,"  saith 
he,  "that  rule  well,  be  counted  worthy  of  double 
honor."  Now  if  it  please  the  queen  so  to  esteem 
of  bishops,  for  their  learning,  knowledge,  and  virtue, 
as  to  take  them  among  her  Lords,  and  count  them 
Honorable,  and  to  place  them  to  counsel  in  Parlia 
ment  or  otherwise,  it  is  not  to  be  thought  that  any 
offence  is  committed  against  God's  blessed  Word, 
so  long  as  the  bishops  contend  not  for  the  same 
amWjwmly,  which  fault  our  Saviour  reproved  in  his 
Apostles. 

Besides,  Aaron  was  appointed  by  God  with  Moses 
for  the  government  of  God's  people,  and  was  counted 
in  authority  not  far  under  Moses.  God  commanded 
that  kings,  for  their  better  government,  should  pe 
ruse  the  book  called  Deuteronomonium,  which  they 
should  receive  of  the  priests,  who  were  thought 
to  be  had  in  great  reverence  and  authority  for 
that  they  were  the  keepers  of  such  mysteries.  The 
prophets,  no  doubt,  were  in  great  authority,  and 
well  esteemed  with  kings  and  with  people.  How 
honorably  did  Constantine  the  Great  use  the  godly 
bishops  in  the  Council  of  Nice !  How  honorably 
did  Theodosius  the  Emperor  use  Ambrose ! * 

Such  were  the  opinions  which  now  alarmed  the 
prelates ;  and  such  were  the  reasonings  now  brought 
against  them,  and  on  which  proceedings  against 
their  advocates  were  grounded.  Setting  aside  that 

1  Parker  to  Burleigh ;   Strype's  Parker,  436. 
VOL.  i.  60 


474  "PRETTY  BRISK."  fCn.  XVII. 

in  favor  of  Lord  Bishops,  these  reasonings  of  the 
Precisian  party  are  at  least  respectable,  temperate, 
courteous,  and  to  a  degree  plausible  ;  the  most  so, 
probably,  of  any  from  the  pens  of  Churchmen  in 
this  year.  They  will  be  noticed  with  comparative 
satisfaction  and  pleasure  by  every  intelligent  reader, 
whatever  his  ecclesiastical  preferences. 

Yet  the  statement  that  the  ecclesiastical  policy 
ought  to  correspond  with  that  of  the  state,  and 
that  touching  the  prince  as  God's  ecclesiastical  vice 
gerent  and  lawgiver,  however  satisfactory  and  sound 
they  may  have  seemed  to  the  school  to  which  the 
writer  belonged,  could  by  no  means  satisfy  the 
Puritan  objector,  because  each  was  but  a  begging 
of  the  question ;  an  advancing  as  axioms  two  fun 
damental  points  in  dispute. 

Nor  was  the  scruple  of  the  conscientious  Puritan 
at  all  met  by  the  reasoning  about  things  indifferent ; 
for  in  his  view,  the  rites,  ceremonies,  and  vestures 
of  the  Church  had  long  been  changed  from  indiffer 
ent  to  sinful  by  their  association  —  still  existing  in  the 
popular  mind — with  an  idolatrous  religion.  Having 
been  thus  changed  from  their  original  and  intrinsic 
indifference,  the  laws  enforcing  them  could  not  be 
considered  "  good  and  godly,"  and  therefore  could 
not  be  obligatory  upon  one  who  held  that  counte 
nancing  idolatry  was  sin  in  God's  eyes,  —  a  breach 
of  those  "moral  laws  of  Moses  whereunto  we  are 
all  bound,  without  respect  of  time  and  place,  or 
man  or  man's  law."  Before  the  Puritan's  cavil,  the 
argument  therefore  was  irrelevant,  and  fell  to  the 
ground.  Besides,  the  Popish  garments,  he  said,  have 
now  become  themselves  very  idols  indeed ;  made  so  by 


CH.  XVIL]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  475 

being  exalted  above  the  "Word  of  God  Almighty.1 
As  for  the  policy  of  the  Established  Church,  espe 
cially  in  its  connection  with  the  State,  the  view  of 
the  Puritan  —  a  true  one  —  was,  that  "  in  the  Church 
of  the  Traditioners," —  so  called  because  they  now 
avowed  the  traditions  of  the  Church  to  be  its  rules 
of  government,  — "  there  is  no  other  discipline  than 
that  which  hath  been  maintained  by  the  antichristian 
Pope  of  Rome,  whereby  the  Church  of  God  hath  al 
ways  been  afflicted,  and  is  to  this  day." 2 

That  the  Presbyterian  plan  for  the  election  of 
ministers  would  install  Papists  and  pot-companions 
in  the  sacred  office,  was  an  objection  doubly  un 
fortunate,  for  it  was  confessed  that  "  Popish  Massing 
priests  were  allowed  in  the  ministry"  under  the 
system  then  existing;3  while,  at  the  same  time, 
there  had  been,  and  still  was,  "  lamentable  corrup 
tion  of  patrons  and  clerks,  parsons  alienating  their 
glebes,  forgiving  their  patrons  their  tithes,  and  pay 
ing  sums  of  money,  to  get  admission  into  their 
churches  " ; 4  it  had  "  come  to  pass  that  some  were 
for  setting  boys  and  serving-men,  mere  lay-bodies, 
to  bear  the  names  of  livings " ; 5  and  "  the  Devil 
and  corrupt  patrons  took  such  order,  that  much  of 
the  hope  that  the  land  would  be  replenished  with 
able  and  learned  pastors  was  cut  off,  for  patrons 
did  not  search  the  universities  for  a  most  painful 
pastor,  but  posted  up  and  down  the  country 
for  a  most  gainful  chapman.  He  that  had  the 

1  Strype's  Parker,  435.  *  Strype's  Life  of  Parker,  98  ;  in 

2  Ibid.  1561. 

3  Henry,  Earl  of  Huntington,  Lord  5  Ibid.  249  ;  in  1567.   Zurich  Let- 
President  of  the  North,  to  Burleigh,  ters,  pp.  247,  271. 

in  1578  ;  Strype's  Annals,  IV.  174. 


476  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Ca.  XVII. 

biggest  purse  to  pay  largely,  not  he  that  had  the 
best  gifts  to  preach  learnedly,  was  presented  to  a 
benefice." l  Moreover,  not  long  after  this  year,  the 
Lords  of  Council  complained,  with  reason,  that  "  per 
sons  were  appointed  to  ecclesiastical  vacancies  who 
had  neither  learning  nor  good  name ;  and  that  un 
learned  curates,  chargeable  with  drunkenness,  filthy 
life,  gambling,  alehousing,  were  suffered,  without 
apprehension  or  other  proceeding."2  Thus  it  was 
unfortunate  for  the  writer  to  urge  that  such  things 
would  be,  under  the  plan  of  popular  elections.  And 
yet  again,  under  the  Establishment,  men  were  mem 
bers  of  the  Church  by  natural  birth;  the  Church 
was  the  nation,  —  Papists,  rabble,  and  all;  an  order 
of  things  which  the  Puritan  held  in  detestation, 
utterly  at  variance  with  his  very  idea  of  a  Christian 
Church.3  According  to  his  regime  none  but  mem 
bers  of  the  Church  would  have  had  voice  in  the 
election  of  ministers,  and  none  but  those  of  sound 
doctrine,  sober  conversation,  and  upright  lives  would 
have  been  members  of  the  Church. 

We  have  digressed  from  our  course,  to  note  the 
irrelevancy  of  the  best  paper  against  the  Puritans 
which  it  has  been  our  fortune  to  meet.  It  was  our 
object  simply  to  show  in  what  posture  of  mind  the 
most  temperate  and  enlightened  Churchmen,  at  this 
time,  held  themselves  toward  the  movement  for  ec 
clesiastical  reformation.  To  this  point  we  return. 

The  reasonings   above    cited   deeply  affected  the 


1  Preface  to  Bullinger's  Decades,  2  Strype's  Whitgift,  166. 

published  in  England  in  1584.     See  3  See  ante,  page  448,  note  7  (1), 

Strype's  WMtgift,  186  ;  Annals,  IV.  and  Hanbury,  I.  40. 
146. 


CH.  XVII.]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  477 

Primate  of  Canterbury;  particularly  the  considera 
tion  —  it  was  his  Grace's  own  —  that  a  five-shilling 
rental  made  a  man  a  lord.  (What  this  or  the  rest 
of  his  words  about  lordship  had  to  do  with  the 
Puritan  objection  to  joining  civil  dignities  and  func 
tions  to  the  Gospel  ministry,  it  is  impossible  to  say, 
or  to  see.)  He  was  "  full  of  perplexities,  what  would 
become  of  the  Church  and  the  nation  by  reason  of 
these  innovators,"  with  their  fantastical  opinions; 
and  the  more  because  he  knew  that  they  were 
"now  framing  themselves  into  more  formal  separa 
tion,"1  and  that,  in  some  places,  the  parishes  were 
electing  their  own  ministers.2  As  he  pondered  their 
seditious  opinions,  he  trembled,  "  not  that  he  cared 
either  for  cap,  tippet,  surplice,  or  wafer  bread,  or 
any  such  " ;  nor,  that  he  was  in  fear  of  being  dis 
placed  by  the  Puritans,  for  he  protested  before  God 
he  was  not.  But  it  was  "  for  the  laws  established ; 
for  her  Majesty's  safety,  estimation,  and  gover 
nance."  3  The  mischief  now  was  in  opinions.  What 
might  they  not  do  in  the  way  of  havoc !  Hence  it 
was,  that  he  was  "more  busy  than,  peradventure, 
some  thought  he  needed  to  be  "  ; 4  which  we  shall 
soon  proceed  to  show. 

The  ecclesiastical  severities  of  Elizabeth  kept  pace 
with  her  strength.  She  did  not  begin  to  annoy 
those  who  scrupled  exact  conformity,  until  in  1564 
her  government  had  become  well  established.  Nor 
did  she  furnish  her  arsenal  with  artillery  expressly 

1  Queen's  Proclamation,  Strype's         3  Ibid.,  421  ;  Appendix,  185. 
Parker,  421,  434.  *  Ibid.,  421. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  436. 


478  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

fitted  to  meet  the  Catholics,  or  prick  the  Puritans 
more  vigorously  with  her  sword,  until,  in  1569,  she 
had  openly  demonstrated  the  folly  of  insurrection ; 
nor  until  it  had  become  evident  to  herself —  about 
the  same  time  —  that  her  power,  more  than  that  of 
any  English  prince  had  ever  been,  was  respected 
abroad.1  To  quiet  certain  rumors  that  it  was  her 
intent  to  make  inquisition  of  men's  consciences  in 
matters  of  religion,  her  Majesty  made  public  declara 
tion  in  1570,  that  "she  would  not  allow  any  of  her 
subjects  to  be  molested,  either  by  examination  or 
inquisition  in  any  matter  of  faith,  as  long  as  they 
should  profess  the  Christian  faith,  not  gainsaying 
the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  or  the  arti 
cles  of  faith  contained  in  the  creeds  Apostolic  and 
Catholic."2  The  particular  occasion  for  that  dec 
laration  had  passed  away.  From  this  point  of  our 
narrative  we  shall  have  opportunity  to  judge  of  its 
sincerity. 

The  controversy  in  the  Church  "  was,  at  the  be 
ginning,  but  a  cap,  and  a  surplice,  and  a  tippet,  but 
now  it  had  grown  to  bishops  and  archbishops,  and 
cathedral  churches,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  order 
established,  and  (to  speak  plain)  to  the  Queen's 
Majesty's  authority  in  causes  ecclesiastical.  If  it  had 
been  looked  to  nine  years  before,  this  hurly-burly 
had  not  now  happened."3  In  other  words,  from 
ceremonials,  the  difference  had  now  opened  in  "a 
matter  of  faith,"  or  opinion,  between  parties  loth  of 
whom  "  professed  the  Christian  faith,  not  gainsaying 


1  Killegrew  to  Cecil,  1569;  Haynes,  516. 

2  Haynes,  591,  592.     Strype's  Annals,  II.  371,  372. 

3  Hutton  to  Burleigh  ;  Murdin,  262. 


CH.  XVII.]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  479 

the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  or  the  creeds 
Apostolic  and  Catholic."  How  was  it  now  about  the 
queen's  allowing  her  subjects  to  be  molested  by 
examination  into  their  opinions  ?  How  was  it  hence 
forth? 

The  Puritans  offered  to  give  an  exposition  in 
public  of  their  ecclesiastical  opinions,  and  there  to 
defend  them  against  the  objections  of  the  prelatical 
party.  But  the  Lord  Treasurer  would  not  suffer  it, 
giving  a  statesman's  reason,  —  that  it  was  not  proper 
to  question  her  Majesty's  established  laws.  Doubt 
less  he  knew  that  logomachy  could  never  settle  or 
mitigate  religious  differences.1 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  1573,  "  divers  of  the 
most  eminent  men  among  the  Puritans "  were  ar 
raigned,  —  some  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commis 
sioners,  some  before  the  Council.  u  For  matter  of 
ceremonies?  for  any  other  external  matters  apper 
taining  to  the  Christian  religion,  as  frequentation  of 
Divine  service  "  ?  —  matters  expressly  kept  open  for 
prosecution  by  her  Majesty's  gracious  declaration 
before  mentioned.  Not  at  all.  It  was  "  by  way  of 
examination  of  their  secret  opinions  in  their  con 
sciences  for  matters  of  faith  "  other  than  "  contained 
in  the  creeds  Apostolic  and  Catholic,"  —  the  annoy 
ance  and  wrong  from  which  the  declaration,  in  the 
very  words  here  quoted,  had  pledged  exemption. 
It  was,  to  be  "  examined  particularly  about  Cart- 
wright's  Book,  and  other  matters,  relating  to  the 
reformation  of  the  Church,  boldly  contradicted  there 
in  " ;  about  "  their  secret  opinions "  on  the  points 
following. 

1  Strype's  Parker,  412. 


480  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

1.  Whether  it  be  lawful  for  a  private  man  openly 
to    disprove    [disapprove]    or   condemn   in   doctrine 
that  thing   that  is  established  by  public  authority, 
before  he  hath,  by  humble  supplication,  showed  the 
error   thereof  to  the  said  authority,  expressing  his 
name  and  hand  to  the  same  ? l 

2.  Whether   the   Book   of   Service   be   good   and 
godly,  every  tittle  grounded  on  the  Holy  Scripture  ? 

3.  Whether  the   Book  of  Articles  established  by 
Parliament  be  agreeable  to  God's  Word  or  not  ? 

4.  Whether  we  must  of  necessity  follow  the  prim 
itive  Church  in  such  things  as  be  used  or  established, 
or  not? 

5.  Whether   all   ministers  in  the   Church  of  God 
should  be   of  equal   authority,    as   well    concerning 
their  jurisdiction,  as  administration  of  the  Word  and 
Sacraments  ? 2 

To  undergo  this  inquisition,  Field  and  Wilcox 
were  summoned  from  prison.  After  their  examina 
tion,  they  were  remanded  to  Newgate,  being  told 
by  the  Council,  at  the  same  time,  that,  "  except  the 
queen  would  pardon  them,  they  should  be  banished 

1  Strype   says,    that  "  four  sub-  by  the  authors  with  their  own  hands, 

scribed  to  this  question,  that  *  it  was  before  having  "  openly  disapproved 

not  lawful';  and  that  here  upon  it  was  or    condemned    the     thing     estab- 

observed  that  they  had  all  condemn-  lished."      Presenting   it   to  Parlia- 

ed   Cartwright's   Book."     (Strype's  ment  was  not  openly    condemning 

Parker,   413.)      If   he    understood  the  Ecclesiastical  Establishment,  for 

this  remark  to  have  been  applied  to  Parliament  sat  with  closed  doors,  and 

the  first  Admonition,  which  he  usu-  the  book,  although  printed,  was  not 

ally,  but  by  mistake,  calls  "  Cart-  "  suffered  to  go  abroad  "  until  after 

wright's  Book,"  he  probably  misun-  its  authors  had  been  committed  to 

derstood.     The  Admonition  of  Field  Newgate.     (Brook,  I.  319.)    "They 

and  Wilcox,  although  it  condemned  were  taken  up  and  imprisoned  for 

the  prelatic  order  of  the  Church,  offering  this  seditious  book  to  Parlia- 

was  itself  "an  humble  supplication  ment."     (Strype's  Annals,  III.  275.) 

presented  to  the  public  authority"  2  Strype's  Parker,  4 1 2. 


CH.  XVIL]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  481 

the  realm  for  disliking  our  Book  of  Keligion  "  !  Two 
others  were  told  —  the  same  in  substance  —  that 
66  they  should  be  banished  also,  if  they  would  not  agree 
to  our  religion " !  *  If  this  threat  was  not  made 
merely  to  scare  them  into  orthodoxy,  but  with 
serious  intent,  it  shows  a  decided  proclivity  on  the 
part  of  the  government  to  the  most  despotic  meas 
ures;  for  there  was  no  law  for  such  a  punishment 
in  such  a  case.  However,  the  sinners  were  neither 
pardoned,  nor  converted,  nor  banished.2 

Mr.  Cartwright  was  also  summoned  to  be  cate 
chised,  but  prudently  kept  himself  concealed.  Where 
upon,  warrant  was  issued  for  his  arrest,  as  has  already 
been  stated.3 

Of  the  style  in  which  these  examinations  were 
conducted,  and  of  the  answers  given  by  the  several 
examinates,  we  have  no  account.  But  it  is  quite 
enough  to  know,  that  in  these  proceedings  men's 
consciences  were  sifted  upon  compulsion,  under  the 
frown  of  civil  power. 

Such  was  the  first  step  in  K  the  more  vigorous 
prosecution "  of  the  men  whom  "  the  queen  was 
resolved  to  suppress";4  the  first  act  of  the  English 
Inquisition ;  the  first  violation  of  that  royal  pledge, 
that  none  should  be  molested  for  their  "  secret  opin 
ions." 

The  ball  once  in  motion,  the  Archbishop  girded 
up  his  loins.  In  May,  he  exhorted  the  Lord  Treas 
urer  and  the  Privy  Council,  pathetically,  to  be  val 
orous  against  these  wild  fantasies  about  a  popular 
Church ;  "  otherwise,  he  feared  they  should  feel  a 

1  Strype's  Parker,  413.  3  Neal,  I.  129. 

2  Ibid.  *  Strype's  Parker,  412. 
VOL.  i.                                61 


482  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cii.  XVII. 

Muncer's  Commonwealth  attempted  shortly.1  If  the 
laws  of  the  land  be  rejected,  if  the  Queen's  Majesty's 
injunctions,  if  her  chapel,  if  her  authority,  be  so 
neglected,  if  our  Book  of  Service  be  so  abominable, 
and  such  paradoxes  be  applauded  to,  —  God  send  us 
of  his  grace !  I  fear  our  wits  be  infatuated ! " 2 
And  again  in  June,  when  more  Puritans  were  before 
the  inquisition  in  the  Star-Chamber,  he  made  an 
oration  about  the  perils  of  the  Church,  the  perils  of 
the  nation,  the  perils  of  the  queen,  affirming  that 
these  "  cowards,"  like  stealthy  huntsmen,  were  com 
passing  them  about  with  secret  toils.  It  seems  as 
though  this  rhetorical  effort  may  have  been  twin  to 
that  in  behalf  of  lord  bishops ;  for  his  Grace  had 
misgivings  about  its  efficacy  as  soon  as  he  returned 
to  Lambeth  palace.  "  Fearing  that  the  zeal  of  the 
Council  might  cool "  notwithstanding,  he  immediately 
wrote  to  the  Lord  Treasurer,  stirring  him  up  to 
further  and  stouter  proceedings;  to  encourage  his 
Lordship  to  which,  he  told  him,  in  conclusion,  that 
"  he  was  going  to  pray  to  God  that  all  things  might 
prosperously  succeed."  3  Sandys,  Bishop  of  London, 
was  his  yoke-fellow  in  this  kind  of  labor ;  and  in  the 
presence-chamber  one  day  he  instigated,  or  at  least 
hastened,  another  measure  against  the  Whimsicals, — 

1  Muncer  was  a  politico-religious  quota  for  subsistence.      Under  his 

fanatic,  who  appeared  in  Thuringia  direction,  the  peasants  took  forcible 

in  1526  ;  one  of  the  leaders  in  "the  possession  of  the  cities,  deposed  the 

War  of  the  Peasants."      His  aim  magistrates,  seized  the  estates  of  the 

was  to  level  the  power  of  the  nobil-  nobles,  and  compelled  them  to  wear 

ity,  to  level  all  conventional  distinc-  garments  of  like  fashion  and  fabric 

tions,  to  abolish  property,  to  place  with  their  own.  (Robertson's  Charles 

all  men  in  a  common  rank,  and  to  V.,  p.  206,  New  York,  1829.) 

establish  a  community  of  goods  from  2  Strype's  Parker,  420. 

which   each  one   should   draw    his  3  Ibid.,  421. 


CH.  XVII.J  "PRETTY  BRISK."  483 

the  queen's  abortive  proclamation  of  the  llth  of 
June,  mentioned  before,  in  which  she  ordered  the 
people  to  bring  in  all  copies  of  the  Admonition ;  and, 
moreover,  did  "  straitly  charge  and  command  them, 
on  pain  of  her  highest  indignation,  to  keep  the 
order  of  common  prayer,  Divine  service,  and  admin 
istration  of  the  sacraments,  according  as  in  the  Book 
of  Service  they  were  set  forth,  and  none  other  con 
trary  or  repugnant."1 

These  prelates  were  also  on  the  watch  to  catch 
any  one  who  might  utter  a  word  in  favor  of  "the 
new  seditious  fancies."  Two  or  three  of  the  select 
preachers  at  Paul's  Cross,  who  commended  the  ob 
noxious  opinions,  had  pursuivants  after  them  in  a 
trice,  but  were  out  of  the  way  betimes.2  Even  the 
churches  of  foreigners  were  watched,  and  strictly 
forbidden  to  receive  any  English  subject  to  their 
fellowship  or  worship.3 

Nor  did  the  zeal  of  the  two  bishops  end  with 
these  measures.  Impressed  with  "the  imminent 
danger  of  Cartwright  and  his  party's  principles," 
they  established  conferences  for  consultation,  —  to 
thwart  the  endeavors  of  these  underminers  of  then- 
order, —  which  conferences  were  held  at  Lambeth 
palace  by  appointment  from  time  to  time  according 
to  exigencies,  to  which  other  bishops  were  called 
by  special  missives,  and  which  were  "to  be  kept 
secret  among  themselves."4  Instant  in  season  and 
out  of  season  were  these  bishops. 

To  him  who  fumes  about  them,  the  worst  prop- 

1  Strype's  Parker,  421,  422.  3  Stiype's   Parker,   428;  Annals, 

2  Ibid.,  4 2 7.   Neal,I.  124.    Brook,     IEL  421. 

I.  278  ;  II.  70.  <  Strype's  Parker,  434. 


484  "PRETTY  BKISK."  [Cn.  XVII 

erty  of  opinions  is,  that  they  are  incorporeal,  in 
tangible.  One  cannot  catch  them  to  scotch  them, 
or  to  lock  them  up.  If  the  thinker  be  put  in  ward, 
not  so  the  thought.  Troublesome  as  it  is,  it  is 
vapory,  ethereal,  volatile;  treats  fetters  and  stone 
walls  as  a  giant  does  pasteboard  and  packthread  ;  can 
not  be  scared  by  rack  or  royalty ;  scorns  what  men 
call  power ;  and,  like  a  gibing  sprite,  goes  whither 
soever  it  lists,  listeth  whomsoever  it  will,  and  multi 
plies  itself  indefinitely,  without  weariness  or  limit. 
Thus,  in  their  crusade  against  opinions,  Matthew 
of  Canterbury  and  Edwin  of  London  were  sadly 
baffled ;  "  laboring  in  the  very  fire,  and  wearying 
themselves  for  very  vanity  " ;  and — to  complete  their 
dolor  —  were  berated  by  their  mistress  for  being  lazy. 

The  new  opinions  had  spread.  They  had  grown 
stout  and  bold.  They  were  preached  and  heard. 
They  were  printed  and  read.  They  were  applauded 
and  put  in  practice.  The  orders  prescribed  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  maugre  "  the  queen's  high 
est  indignation,"  were  not  "  kept " ;  but  were  openly 
broken  and  despised.  New  rites  were  adopted. 
"  New  churches  were  set  up."  Yet  these  new  church 
es,  —  these  Genevan  Presbyteries,  —  the  watchmen 
knew  of  them,  but  could  not  find  them.1  This  would 
never  do.  The  supreme  power  must  move.  "The 
anointed  vicegerent  of  God  "  must  again  interpose. 

On  the  20th  of  October,  therefore,  the  queen 
uttered  another  proclamation.  "The  Queen's  Ma 
jesty  being  right  sorry  to  understand  that  the  order 

of  Common  Prayer  set  forth by  authority 

of  Parliament  is now  of  late  despised  and 

1  Strype's  Parker,  [446].     Neal,  1. 126. 


CH.  XVII.l  "PRETTY  BRISK."  485 

spoken  against, the  cause  of  which  disorders 

be  the  negligence  of  the  bishops  and  other 

magistrates/'  &c.  —  Elizabeth  was  an  expert  dema 
gogue  ;  always  saying,  and  in  her  public  acts  de 
meaning  herself  accordingly,  "that  she  could  be 
lieve  nothing  of  her  people  which  parents  would 
not  believe  of  their  children " ; l  that  "  her  state 
did  require  her  to  command  what  she  knew  her 
people  would  willingly  do  from  their  own  love  to 
her."  "Again,  she  could  put  forth  such  altera 
tions,"  in  her  behavior,  —  "  when  obedience  was 
lacking,  as  left  no  doubtings  whose  daughter  she 
was."2  So,  in  this  case,  she  charged  the  fault,  not 
upon  the  disloyalty  or  depravity  of  her  loving  sub 
jects  at  large,  but  upon  the  negligence  of  the  bishops 
and  magistrates. — The  proclamation  continued :  "  For 
speedy  remedy  whereof,  her  Majesty  straitly  charge th 
and  commandeth"  all  in  authority  ecclesiastic  and 
ordinary  "  to  put  in  execution  the  Act  for  the  uni 
formity  of  Common  Prayer  and  administration  of 
the  Sacraments, with  all  diligence  and  sever 
ity;  neither  favoring  nor  dissembling  with  one  per 
son  nor  other  who  doth  neglect,  despise,  or  seek 
to  alter  the  godly  orders  and  rites  set  forth  in 
the  said  book.  But  if  any  person  shall,  by  public 
preaching,  writing,  or  printing,  contemn,  despise, 
or  dispraise  the  orders  contained  in  the  said  book, 
they  shall  immediately  apprehend  him,  and  cause 
him  to  be  imprisoned  until  he  hath  answered  to  the 
law,  upon  pain  that  the  chief  officers  being  present 
at  any  such  preaching,  and  the  whole  parish,  shall 
answer  for  their  contempt  and  negligence. 

1  Camden,  233.  2  Nugas  Antiquae,  I.  356. 


486  " PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

"Likewise  if  any  shall  forbear  to  come  to  the 
Common  Prayer  and  receive  the  Sacraments  of  the 
Church,  according  to  the  order  in  the  book  allowed, 
upon  no  just  and  lawful  cause,  all  such  they"  — 
the  magistrates  ecclesiastical  and  civil  — "  shall  in 
quire  of,  present,  and  see  punished  with  more  care 
and  diligence  than  heretofore  hath  been  done.  The 
which  negligence  hath  been  cause  why  such  dis 
orders  have  of  late  now  so  much  and  in  so  many 
places  increased  and  grown. 

"  And  if  any  persons  shall,  either  in  private  houses 
or  in  public  places,  make  assemblies,  and  therein  use 
other  rites  of  Common  Prayer  and  administration 
of  the  Sacraments  than  is  prescribed  in  the  said 
book,  or  shall  maintain  in  their  houses  any  persons 
notoriously  charged,  by  books  or  preachings,  to  at 
tempt  the  alteration  of  the  said  orders,  they"  — 
the  magistrates  — "  shall  see  suck  persons  punished 
with  all  severity  according  to  the  laws  of  this  realm, 
by  pains  appointed  in  the  said  act. 

"  And  because  these  matters  do  principally  apper 
tain  to  the  persons  ecclesiastical, her  Ma 
jesty  giveth  a  most  special  and  earnest  charge  to 
all  such,  to  have  a  vigilant  eye  and  care  to  these 
things,  and  to  proceed  from  time  to  time  by  ordinary 
and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, with  all  celer 
ity  and  severity,  against  all  persons  who  shall  offend, 

upon  pain  of  her  Majesty's  high  displeasure 

for  their  negligence,  and  deprivation  from  their 
dignities  and  benefices,  or  other  censures  to  follow, 
according  to  their  demerits."1 

Matthew  Hut  ton,  Dean  of  York,  in  his  admirable 

1  Sparrow,  169,  170. 


CH.  XVIL]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  487 

letter  of  the  6th  of  the  month,  which  we  have  largely 
quoted,  and  which  Lord  Burleigh  had  expressly  so 
licited,  had  closed  with  the  following  wise  and  truly 
Christian  counsel : — "If  there  be  things  to  be  amend 
ed  in  the  Church  of  England,  —  as  it  is  hard  to 
have  a  thing  so  perfect  but  it  may  be  amended,  — 
God  hath  blessed  her  Majesty  above  the  capacity 
of  her  sex  with  singular  learning;  her  Honorable 
Council  —  some  especially  —  are  passing  well  learned, 
and  the  grave  fathers  of  the  Church, —  so  many  in 
number,  so  zealous  in  the  truth,  so  well  learned 
in  godly  learning,  —  let  them  gather  themselves  to 
gether  in  the  name  of  Christ;  let  them  consult 
without  affection  "  —  bent  of  mind ;  —  "  let  them  talk 
with  the  authors  of  'The  Admonition  and  Plat 
form  ' ; l  let  them  answer  them,  and  satisfy  them,  — 
if  it  be  possible,  —  by  reason  of  God's  Word ;  and 
if  there  be  either  defect  in  the  laws,  or  disorder 
for  want  of  execution  of  the  laws,  let  it  be  reformed 
by  public  authority.  Only  let  us  not,  through  bitter 
and  uncharitable  contention,  hinder  the  course  of 
the  Gospel,  give  occasion  to  the  enemy  to  rejoice, 
and  gratify  them  that  gape  for  the  spoil  of  the 
clergy." 2 

It  is  refreshing  to  transcribe  such  sentiments  from 
the  paper  of  a  Churchman  of  that  day.  No  doubt 
they  were  approved  by  the  discreet  and  high-minded 
statesman  to  whom  they  were  offered.  But  what 
could  he  do  ?  He  "  was  sworn  to  be  a  minister  of 

1  "  The    Admonition     contained  that     Platform    which    was     there 

their  grievances  who  presented  it,  prescribed."  —  Fuller,   Bk.   IX.   p. 

with  a  declaration  of  the  only  way  102. 

to  redress  them,  viz.  by  admitting  2  Murdin,  265. 


488  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

her  Majesty's  determinations,  and  not  of  his  own  or 
of  others." l  Her  Majesty's  motto  was,  "  temper  ear 
dem"  She  would  not  admit  any  need  of  amendment 
in  her  Church  Established;  and  hence  her  stern 
order,  by  the  proclamation,  for  unsparing  severity. 

Nor  was  this  proclamation  all.  Ecclesiastical  com 
missions  were  issued  under  the  Great  Seal  to  trust 
worthy  persons  in  the  several  shires,  to  execute  the 
proclamation  by  way  of  Oyer  and  Terminer.  Of 
these,  the  Archbishop  and  bishops  were  the  chief. 
They  were  deputed  to  determine  and  punish  espe 
cially  all  offences  against  the  orders  of  the  Church.2 

Moreover,  the  proclamation  "was  backed*'  by  a 
letter,  dated  November  7th,  from  the  Council  to  the 
bishops,  and  written  by  the  queen's  command.  It 
told  them  "  that  it  was  mostly  their  fault  that  such 
diversities,  contentions,  and  unseemly  disputations 
had  arisen ;  that  they  and  their  officers  had  hereto 
fore  performed  their  visitations  and  held  their  courts 
more  —  and  the  more  the  pity  —  to  get  money,  or 
for  some  other  sinister  purposes,  than  to  keep  their 
churches  in  uniform  and  godly  order;  that  they 
were  now  and  hereby  required  to  keep  a  vigilant 
eye,  to  see  to  it  that  in  no  one  church  there  be  any 
deformity,  or  difference  from  the  prescribed  orders, 
and  to  punish  all  offenders." 3 

This  letter  stung  the  bishops.  It  seemed  hard, 
after  all  that  they  had  done,  that  they  could  not 
satisfy  their  mistress ; 4  that  now  they,  instead  of  the 

1  Cecil     to    the    Queen,    1560  ;         3  Strype's  Parker,  454. 
Wright,  L  25.  4  Neal,  I.  127,  note. 

2  Strype's    Parker    [447],   457; 
Annals,  HI.  384. 


CH.  XVTL]  "  PRETTY  BRISK."  489 

temporal  officers,  should  be  made  to  shoulder  both 
the  drudgery  and  the  odium  of  prosecutors;  and 
above  all,  that  they  should  be  charged  with  covetous- 
ness.1  But  there  was  no  alternative  ;  and  they 
obeyed. 

To  complete  the  arrangements  of  the  Court,  those 
who  had  just  been  put  in  commission,  and  "  who  now 
were  about  going  into  their  respective  counties  to 
execute  the  laws  upon  ecclesiastical  offenders," 2  were 
assembled  in  the  S tar-Chamber  on  the  28th  of  No 
vember  to  receive  from  the  Lord  Treasurer  their 
final  charge. 

"  A  number  of  vicars,  curates,  preachers,  and  read 
ers,"  said  he,  "young  in  years,  but  over-young  in 
brains,  have  made  sundry  alterations,  according  to 
their  own  imaginations  and  conceits,  in  the  common 
services  of  the  Church.  They  have  also  diffused 
erroneous  opinions,  such  as  make  men  think  the  pre 
scribed  orders  and  rites  of  the  Church  burdenous  to 
conscience.  This  is  a  matter  pernicious  to  the  state 
of  government ;  a  danger  which  her  Majesty,  by  the 
charge  committed  to  her  by  Almighty  God,  is  bound 
to  stay  by  speedy  good  means.  These  corrupt  opin 
ions  tend  to  the  violation  of  laws  without  offence  to 
conscience.  Hence  come  violent  and  audacious  at 
tempts,  of  which  her  Majesty  is  daily  hearing ;  and 
as  you  are  now  to  repair  to  your  several  counties, 
she  reiterates  her  earnest  intent  to  reform  these  dis 
orders  and  corruptions,  which  are  brought  about  both 
by  malpractice  and  by  unsound  doctrine.  She  can 
not  be  quiet  in  her  conscience  without  earnestly  pros 
ecuting  the  reformation  hereof;  nor  can  she  think 

1  Strype's  Parker,  455.  2  Ibid.,  456. 

VOL.  i.  62 


490  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

any  of  her  subjects,  especially  her  ecclesiastical 
officers,  worthy  to  live  under  her  protection,  or 
anywise  to  enjoy  her  favor,  who  shall  directly 
or  indirectly  maintain  any  person  to  alter,  by 
example  or  doctrine,  the  established  orders  of  the 
Church. 

"Her  Majesty  also  willeth  that  you  her  Commis 
sioners,  and  other  justices,  in  your  several  places, 
do  use  your  endeavor  that  her  injunctions,  at  sev 
eral  times  published,  for  the  uniform  government 
and  rites  of  the  Church,  be  observed  by  all  per 
sons. 

"  And  whereas  these  doctrines  of  alterations  or 
varieties  may  be  thought  even  by  persons  of  value 
and  note  —  perchance  by  some  nominated  in  the 
commissions  —  to  be  not  so  perilous  as  her  Majesty 
doth  conceive  them,  but  to  be  merely  of  the  nature 
of  arguments  or  disputations,  and  whereas  some  may 
think  that  these  innovators  have  cause  to  account 
some  rites  of  the  Church  not  so  perfect  as  might  be, 
her  Majesty  hath  commanded  me  to  make  it  man 
ifest  that  the  perils  are  such v and  so  great  as  she 
judgeth  them. 

"  In  a  family,  or  in  a  ship,  if  the  commander  and 
the  persons  under  him  fall  to  such  a  difference  that 
there  be  contrariness  between  his  directions  and  their 
behavior,  what  will  ensue  but  beggary  in  the  one 
case,  and  shipwreck  in  the  other  ?  By  like  dissen 
sions,  kingdoms  may  be  overthrown.  And  if  dis 
order,  if  dissension,  if  contention,  may  bring  these 
perils  in  civil  causes,  what  ought  not  to  be  greatlier 
feared  in  spiritual,  —  in  causes  of  religion  and  con 
science  ?  Such  example  hath  her  Majesty  reinem* 


CH.  XVII. J  "PRETTY  BKISK."  491 

bered  to  me  to  be  uttered." ]     Here  the  original,  in 
Lord  Burleigh's  handwriting,  abruptly  ends. 

This  was  all  very  well,  if  it  be  admitted  that  the 
unity  and  harmony,  the  vigor,  thrift,  and  existence 
of  Christ's  true  Church,  depend  upon  a  common  form 
of  worship,  a  common  government,  and  a  common 
executive  head,  for  all  the  congregations  in  a  civil 
commonwealth.  On  these  points,  the  Puritan  was 
as  yet  all  wrong;  the  Protestant  Churchman  was 
equally  so ;  and  the  Catholic  was  no  worse.  Each 
thought  his  own  platform  and  polity  and  discipline 
the  true,  and  to  be  enforced  by  the  sword  of  the 
prince.  The  Puritan  was  sincere  in  saying,  that  u  in 
the  Church,  the  magistrate  was  only  to  see  that  all  be 
ruled  of  the  Lord." 2  The  Protestant  Churchman  — 
but  a  step  farther  back  —  was  equally  sincere  in  say 
ing  that  the  magistrate  had  a  right,  at  his  own  dis 
cretion,  to  legislate  for  the  Church,  as  well  as  to  coerce 
obedience.  Elizabeth  was  not  under  the  cloud  alone. 
We  may  therefore  concede,  at  least,  sincerity  to  her 
opinions,  as  expressed  by  the  Lord  Treasurer  to  the 
commissioners.  Did  she  sharply  resent  disobedience 
to  her  ecclesiastical  laws  ?  She  was  a  queen.  Was 
she  jealous  to  an  extreme  of  her  ecclesiastical  su 
premacy  ?  She  was  human.  Did  she  fondly  fancy  the 
policy  and  ritual  of  her  Church  above  amendment? 
She  was  a  woman.  However  low  we  may  estimate 
her  piety,  —  using  the  word  in  its  purest  sense,3  — 

1  Strype's  Parker,  456  -  458.  what  I  certainly  know  to  be  the  fact, 

2  Hutton,  supra;  and  Sampson  to  and  assert  most  confidently,  that  she 
Burleigh,  Strype's  Parker,  Appen-  is  indeed  a  child  of  God." — Samp- 
dix,  p.  177  ;  and  the  Admonition  as  son  to  Peter  Martyr,  in  1560  ;  Zu- 
quoted  by  Neal,  I.  74,  75.  rich  Letters,  No.  XXXIX. 

8  "  I  can  most  cordially  testify, 


492  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [On.  XVII. 

we  exceed  warrant  if  we  charge  her  measures  upon 
singular  depravity. 

Burleigh  was  a  strict  and  honest  Churchman.  But 
the  reader  must  not  suppose  that  in  this  address  he 
spake  his  own  sentiments ;  that  he  approved  of  the 
queen's  rigidity,  preciseness,  and  severity;  or  that 
he  was  blind  to  the  evils  which  the  Puritans  sought 
to  reform.  Besides,  upon  another  occasion,  he  con 
fessed  to  a  leader  of  the  Puritans,  that  some,  and 
those  the  most  important,  of  "  their  motions  he  liked 
well ;  but  that  he  could  not  do  the  good  which  he 
would,  or  which  others  thought  that  he  could." ]  His 
address  to  the  commissioners  was  "by  command," 
as  he  repeatedly  stated  therein.  Neither  his  minis 
terial  words  nor  acts  are  to  be  taken  as  indices  of  his 
own  opinions  or  wishes.  He  was  "  sworn  to  be  a 
minister  of  her  Majesty's  determinations,  and  not  of 
his  own."  "  I  do  hold,  and  will  always,"  said  he  in  a 
letter  to  his  son,  "  this  course  in  such  matters  as  I 
differ  in  opinion  from  her  Majesty.  As  long  as  I 
may  be  allowed  to  give  advice,  I  will  not  change  my 
opinion  by  affirming  the  contrary ;  for  that  were  to 
offend  God,  to  whom  I  am  sworn  first.  But  as  a  ser 
vant  I  will  obey  her  Majesty's  commandment,  and  in 
no  wise  oppose  or  thwart  the  same ;  presuming  that, 
she  being  God's  chief  minister  here,  it  shall  be  God's 
will  to  have  her  commandments  obeyed,  after  that  I 
have  performed  my  duty  as  a  counsellor,  and  shall  in 
my  heart  wish  her  commandments  to  have  such  good 
successes  as  I  am  sure  she  intendeth.  You  see  I  am 
in  a  mixture  of  divinity  and  policy,  preferring  in 
policy  her  Majesty  afore  all  others  on  the  earth ;  and 

1  Strype's  Parker,  [448],  Appendix,  p.  177  ;  Annals,  III.  395. 


CH.  XVII.]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  493 

in  divinity,  the  King  of  heaven  above  all  betwixt 
Alpha  and  Omega." l 

About  this  time  some  one  —  whose  name  does  not 
appear  —  proposed  to  the  Council,  that  every  minis 
ter  and  preacher  in  the  kingdom  should  be  required 
to  give  bonds,  with  good  sureties,  in  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  pounds,  to  observe  to  a  tittle  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  all  existing  constitutions,  de 
crees,  and  orders,  and  such  as  might  thereafter  be  set 
forth ;  and  that  any  one  refusing  to  give  such  bonds 
should  be  committed  to  prison,  or  be  otherwise  de 
prived  of  his  living  and  forbidden  to  preach,  until  he 
should  submit.  The  proponent  concluded  with  a 
consideration  which  it  is  difficult  to  appreciate,  that 
"the  surplice  and  hood  on  all  the  ministers  when 
publicly  officiating  would  greatly  increase  their  credit 
and  reverence  with  the  people,  and  daunt  the  hearts 
of  the  Papists  "  ! 2  If  we  wonder  at  the  ascription  of 
so  singular  a  virtue  to  such  things  by  a  Churchman, 
we  cannot  wonder  that  the  Puritan  abhorred  them 
and  said,  "These  Popish  garments  are  now  become 
very  idols  indeed."  3 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  believe  that  so  mon 
strous  a  proposition  was  not  even  considered  by  the 
Council.4 


1  Burleigh  to  Cecil,  March  23d,  statesman.     If*  Mr.  Neal  supposed 
1595-6  ;  Wright,  II.  457.  only  that  it  might  have  been  intro- 

2  Strype's  Parker,  458,  459.  duced  by  Burleigh  at  the  queen's  com- 

3  Ibid.,  435.  mand,  he  should  have  said  so.     But 

4  Mr.    Neal's  intimation    that  it  had  this  been  the  case,  the  prop- 
might  have  been  introduced  by  Lord  osition  would   doubtless  have  had 
Burleigh,  is   hardly  generous,   and  further   proceeding,  and    probably 
certainly  is  not  sustained  by  the  would  have  been  decreed, 
character     of    that     noble-minded 


494  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

The  Cossacks  ecclesiastic  dispersed.  They  scoured 
the  kingdom;  swooping  up  the  suspected,  and  pinking 
with  the  lance  every  one  not  a  Precisian,  to  the  let 
ter  of  the  law.  To  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  were 
of  the  faith  royal,  they  vigorously  imposed,  upon 
such  clergymen  as  were  cited  before  them  for  non 
conformity,  two  tests  "  of  their  own  devising." l  The 
first  was  a  promise  in  the  form  following :  "  To  use 
the  service  and  Common  Prayer  Book,  and  the  pub 
lic  form  of  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  no 
other ;  to  serve  in  their  cures  according  to  the  rites, 
orders,  forms,  and  ceremonies  prescribed ;  and  here 
after  not  to  preach  or  speak  anything  tending  to  the 
derogation  of  the  said  Book,  or  any  part  thereof,  re 
maining  authorized  by  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the 
realm." 

The  other  test  was  a  declaration,  "  That  the  Book 
of  Consecration  of  Archbishops  and  Bishops,  and  of 
the  ordering  of  Deacons,  set  forth  in  the  time  of  Ed 
ward  VI.,  doth  contain  all  things  necessary  for  such 
consecration  and  ordering,  having  in  it  nothing  that  is 
either  superstitious  or  ungodly;  and  therefore  that 
they  which  be  consecrated  and  ordered  according 
thereto  be  duly,  orderly,  and  lawfully  ordered  and 
consecrated  ;  and  that  they  "  —  the  subscribers  — 
"  do  acknowledge  their  duty  and  obedience  to  their 
ordinary  and  diocesan,  as  to  a  lawful  magistrate 
under  the  queen's  authority,  which  obedience  they 
do  promise  according  as  the  laws  shall  bind  them  to 
perform."2 

These  forms  varied  somewhat  in  the  different  dio 
ceses  ;  but  those  most  commonly  used  contained  also 

1  Neal,  I.  130.     Brook,  H.  71.  2  Neal,  I.  130. 


CH.  XVIL]  « PRETTY  BRISK."  495 

the  following  clauses,  —  strange  points  to  be  sworn 
to :  "  I  acknowledge  that  the  public  preaching  of 
the  Word  in  the  Church  of  England  is  sound  and  sin 
cere  ;  that  the  public  order  of  administering  of  sacra 
ments  is  consonant  to  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  that  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  there  is  nothing  repugnant 
to  the  same."1  We  shall  have  occasion  to  notice 
these  clauses  and  the  others  hereafter. 

Many  ministers  were  found  too  enlightened  and 
conscientious  to  subscribe  to  all  these  points,  and  to 
swear  to  them,  —  both  which  they  were  required  to 
do ;  especially  to  swear  that  the  preaching  of  the 
clergy  universally,  and  the  Book  of  the  Church  en 
tire,  were  each  as  good  as  the  Bible.  Such  men 
offered  to  use  the  book,  and  no  other,  and  not  to 
preach  against  it  before  the  next  meeting  of  Parlia 
ment  ;  but  as  for  the  subscription  and  oath,  they 
resented  them  as  against  the  laws  of  God,  standing 
upon  their  rights  as  Christians,  and,  as  against  the 
laws  of  the  realm,  standing  upon  their  rights  as  Eng 
lishmen.  On  these  grounds,  they  made  an  appeal  to 
the  Archbishop.  He  rejected  it.2 

The  laity  were  dealt  with  in  like  manner.  Those 
who  absented  themselves  from  their  parish  churches 
to  hear  non-conforming  ministers,  were  required  to 
subscribe  to  the  last  three  points  noted  above,  and 
to  these  words  in  addition :  "  And  whereas  I  have 
absented  myself  from  my  parish  church,  and  have 
refused  to  join  with  the  congregation  in  public 
prayer  and  in  receiving  the  sacrament  according  to 
the  public  order  laid  down,  and  my  duty  in  that 
behalf,  I  am  right  sorry  for  it,  and  pray  that  this 

1  Neal,  I.  130.  2  Ibid. 


496  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [On.  XVII. 

my  fault  may  be  pardoned ;  and  do  promise,  that 
from  henceforth  I  will  frequent  my  parish  church, 
and  join  with  the  congregation  there,  as  well  in 
prayer  as  in  the  administration  of  the  sacraments, 
according  to  such  order  as  by  public  authority  is 
set  down  and  established."1  Two  expedients  were 
contrived  to  catch  this  sort  of  sinners.  Spies  were 
stationed  in  the  churches  to  observe  who  were  ab 
sentees,  and  to  report  them  to  the  courts  for  prose 
cution  ;  and  when  they  were  imprisoned,  their  jailers 
were  charged  to  report  the  names  of  their  visitors, 
that  they  too  might  be  watched,  if  haply  their  feet 
should  slide.2 

Under  the  ministry  of  this  commission,  many 
clergymen  —  learned  divines  and  devoted  preachers  3 
—  were  deprived  of  their  livings,  merely  for  not 
subscribing  upon  oath  the  papers  quoted  above ;  for 
demanding  which  there  ivas  no  laiv.^  Conscience  re 
ceived  no  grace  at  the  hands  of  the  Commissioners. 
The  refusers  were  deprived,5  and  forbidden  to  preach. 
If  their  deprivation  may  be  canonically  justified  on 
the  ground  that  they  who  obey  not  the  rules  of  any 
Church  forfeit  its  offices  and  emoluments,  not  so  the 
forbidding  to  preach.  It  was  a  barring  from  liveli 
hood,  a  decree  of  beggary  to  good  men,  their  wives 
and  their  children,  —  to  men  qualified  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  eager  to  preach  it,  needed  to  preach  it.  To 
use  the  softest  word,  this  was  hard.  It  was  harder, 

1  Neal,  I.  131.  diocese  of  Norwich;  one  of  whom, 

2  Ibid.  he  adds,  the  good  old  Bishop  wrote, 

3  Ibid.,  I.  129.  "was  godly  and  learned,  and  had 

4  Ibid.,  I.  130.     Brook,  II.  71.  done  much  good."   He  cites  Strype's 
6  Mr.  Neal  says  (Vol.  1. 128),  that  Parker,  p.  336.    I  find  that  which 

three  hundred  non-conforming  min-  I  have  here  embraced  in  quotation 
isters  were  suspended  in  the  single  marks  on  p.  45  2  of  the  copy  of  Strype 


CH.  XVII.]  "PKETTY  BRISK."  497 

that  some  of  them  were  committed  to  prison ; l  to 
u  filthy  jails,  more  unwholesome  than  dunghills, 
more  stinking  than  pig-styes "  ; 2  sometimes  "  shut 
up  in  close  rooms,  not  being  allowed  the  liberty  of 
the  prison,  where  they  died  like  rotten  sheep," 3  and 
where  the  fees,  added  to  the  cost  of  prosecution  and 
to  the  exactions  of  officers  ravenous  for  gain,  half 
ruined  the  victims,  even  if  they  survived  and  were 
cleared  of  accusation.  The  Puritan,  sometimes  at 
least,  was  presented  in  the  courts  out  of  sheer  malice, 
committed  to  prison  without  examination,  and  re 
fused  a  copy  of  his  presentment.4 

Thus,  while  the  Puritans  were  pleading  even  in 
the  royal  antechamber,  that  "the  untaught  people 
of  England  might  be  gathered  into  sufficient  congre 
gations,  and  have  sufficient  and  resident  pastors,  that 
preaching  pastors  might  be  restored,  and  Gospel-like 


before  me.     On  the  previous  page  whom  gave   hope    of   conforming, 

it  is  stated  that  this  man,  Moore,  Neither,  after  careful  and  repeated 

"stuck  at  the  wearing  of  the  sur-  examination,  can  I  find  Mr.  Neal 

plice,  because,  as  he  said,  he  should  sustained,  in  this  particular,  by  the 

be  offensive  to  some.     But  the  Bish-  several  references  which  he  makes 

op  told  him,  it  were  better  to  offend  in    the    same     paragraph.      These 

a  few  private  persons  than  to  offend  things    throw    suspicion    upon    his 

God  and  disobey  the  prince."     Not  startling  statement  of  numbers.  For 

a  word   about  Mr.    Moore's   being  these  reasons,  I  must  refrain  from 

suspended  ;    although  he    probably  adopting  it,  only  sorry  to  implicate 

was,  for  he  not  only  "  stuck,"  but  Mr.  Neal's  accuracy.    Possibly,  how- 

"  refused."  ever,  he  may  be  justified  by  some 

But  I  refer  to  this  passage  in  Neal  other  authority, 
chiefly  because   he   says   that  Mr.        *  Brook,  I.  36. 
Moore  was  one  of  three  hundred  in         2  Johnson  in  jail,  to  Bishop  San- 

the  diocese  who  were  suspended  ;  a  dys,  Feb.  1574  ;  Brook,  I.  180. 
statement    not  here    sustained   by         3  Brook,  II.  195  ;  under  date  of 

Strype,  whom  he  cites  as  his  author-  1592,  when  the  jails  were  at  best  no 

ity.     On  the  contrary,  the  account  better. 

shows  but  very  few,  thirty-three,  to        *  Neal,  I.  131,  note  ;  132,  note, 
have    been    dealt   with;    some    of 

VOL.  i.  63 


498  "PRETTY  BRISK."  [Cn.  XVII. 

government  instituted/' l  the  Court  was  more  zealous 
for  a  coat  than  for  the  truth;2  the  commissioners 
were  silencing  and  imprisoning  able  and  godly  men ; 
vacancies  were  supplied  by  "  outlandish  "  incumbents 
who  could  scarcely  read  ;  a  sermon  in  three  months, 
and  for  the  most  part  not  so  often,  was  doled  out  in 
lieu  of  two  every  Sunday  ; 3  "  the  Devil  and  corrupt 
patrons "  were  still  shuffling  their  cards ;  the  people 
were  crying  out  for  lack  of  the  Word,  wives  and 
children  for  lack  of  bread ;  hirelings  and  false  ac 
cusers  were  tattling  about  surplices,  conventicles,  and 
Geneva  forms,  —  about  who  said  something  against 
her  Majesty's  Book  of  Injunctions,  and  who  against 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.4  It  was  matter  of 
solemn  registry  whose  shop  was  open  on  Christmas, 
and  whose  shop  was  shut;  what  aldermen  went  to 
church  in  their  scarlets,  and  what  ones  would  not ; 
who  ate  fish,  and  who  ate  flesh.3  Bishops-men,  "  flat 
tering  to  get  livings  and  making  the  pulpit  to  be 
contemned,"  were  preaching  amain  for  the  civil  ex 
altation  of  bishops,  and  lamenting  from  the  pulpit  of 
Paul's  Cross,  that  "  whereas  once  a  good  justice  durst 
not  offend  a  hedge-priest,  now  every  broom-man  in 
Kent  Street  would  control  them  " ; 6  and  court  preach 
ers,  "  waiving  Christ  and  him  crucified,  were  crucify 
ing  their  brethren,  appeaching  true  men  and  honest 
of  schism,  heresy,  and  treason,  and  denouncing  some 
of  them  by  name  as  wicked  men,  beasts,  and  devils." 7 
Some  of  the  commissioners  began  to  loath  their 

1  Sampson  to  Burleigh  ;  Strype's         5  Ibid.,  452. 

Parker,  Appendix,  p.  177.  G  Strype's  Annals,  IV.  515,  516. 

2  Strype's  Parker,  395.  Murdin,  271,  272. 

3  Neal,  I.  130.     Brook,  H  72.  7  Sampson  to  Burleigh,  ut  supra. 
*  Strype's  Parker,  451,  452,  455. 


CH.  XVII]  "PRETTY  BRISK."  499 

work.  "The  physicians  themselves  were  sick."1 
Some,  however,  gloried  in  their  shame  ;  accosting 
their  examinates  with  coarse  jokes ;  railing  at  them 
as  u  wickedest  and  most  contemptuous " ;  offending 
them  with  profane  language;  and  making  sport  of 
their  prospective  sufferings,  as  they  remanded  them 
to  prison.2 

Such  was  the  zeal  of  the  Precisians  about  trifles. 
Such  were  Church  and  State  when  "pretty  brisk." 

1  Strype's    Parker,    [447],    456;  venticle  at  Plumbers' Hall ;  called 
Cox  to  Parker.  by  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  for  fun, 

2  See  the  examination  of  White,  "  as  Hack  as  the  Devil."     (Neal,  I. 
one  who  had  suffered  for  the  con-  131,  note.     Brook,  1. 145,  note.) 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THINKING. 

EDWARD  DEERING,  A  CONFORMING  PURITAN,  PUNISHED  FOR  HIS  OPINIONS.  ~- 
BISHOP  SANDYS  INTERCEDES  FOR  HIS  RESTORATION.  —  HE  is  RESTORED  ;  AND 

AGAIN  SILENCED.  —  HE  IS  PUT  UNDER  INQUISITION  FOR  WORDS  AND  THOUGHTS. 

—  His  LETTER  TO   BURLEIGH   AGAINST   THE   LORDSHIP  OF  BISHOPS.  —  DIF 
FERENCES  BETWEEN    BISHOPS     OF  THE    PRIMITIVE    ClIURCH    AND    THOSE  OF 

THE  ANGLICAN.  —  MR.  DEERING' s  ANSWER  TO  CHARGES  FOR  WORDS  SPOKEN. 

—  His  REPLY  TO  INTERROGATORIES   FROM  THE   BISHOPS  ,  AND  TO  TWENTY 
ARTICLES  PROPOUNDED  BY  THE  LORDS. —  THEIR  ANTI-DESPOTIC  OPINIONS, 
THE  TRUE  OFFENCE  OF  THE  PURITANS. 

1573, 15T4. 

"  You  have  of  late  sent  unrighteous  statutes 
to  Cambridge.  You  were  moved,  I  think,  by  the 
information  of  the  Heads  there The  coun 
tenance  of  men  is  no  good  warrant  of  the  truth. 
If  it  were,  Christ  had  been  crucified  for  his  evil 

doings The  Doctors   and  Heads    of  Houses 

have  procured  you  to  make  these  new  statutes, 
to  the  utter  undoing  of  those  who  fear  God,  or  to 
the  burdening  of  their  consciences  who  dare  not 
yield  to  sin.  Therefore  I  will  speak  my  mind. 
Whatsoever  you  think,  I  will  discharge  a  good  con 
science 

"These  Doctors  and  Heads  are  either  enemies 
unto  God's  Gospel,  or  so  faint  professors  that  they 
do  little  good  in  the  Church.  By  one,  scarce  a 
Protestant  chosen  to  be  Fellow  these  twelve  years ; 


CH.  XVIII.J  THINKING.  501 

by  another,  such  curates  kept  as  flee  away  over 
the  seas;  another  can  hardly  be  brought  to  re 
move  Popish  books  and  garments.1 Two  others 

have  small  constancy  in  their  life  or  religion 

Dr.  Whitgiffc,  whom  I  have  loved,  is  yet  a  man,  and 
God  hath  suffered  him  to  fall  into  great  infirmi 
ties.  So  froward  a  mind  against  Mr.  Cartwright 

bewrayeth  a  conscience  that  is  full  of  sickness 

It  grieveth  me,  in  my  very  soul,  to  remember 
their  faults ;  and  you,  if  you  be  happy,  seek  speed 
ily  to  remedy  them.  They  keep  benefices  and  be 
non-residents.  While  they  are  clothed  in  scarlet, 
their  flocks  perish  for  cold;  and  while  they  fare 
deliciously,  their  people  are  faint  with  a  most  miser 
able  hunger.  This  fault  is  intolerable,  and  such  as 
God  abhorreth ;  and  your  hands  are  in  the  strength 
ening  of  it,  except  you  reform  it 

"  You  that  have  been  brought  so  easily  to  hurt 
God's  people,  to  do  pleasure  to  the  Pope,  and  with 
so  fearful  statutes  have  proceeded  to  the  punish 
ment  of  so  small  offences,  now  make  some  good 
statute  that  may  punish  sin.  And  I  beseech  you, 
even  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  that  hath  sancti 
fied  his  people,  send  down  a  new  statute,  that  no 
Master  of  a  House  shall  have  a  benefice  except 
he  serve  it  himself. 

"  If  I  find  no  credit,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done, 
by  whose  mercy  I  am  known  now  both  at  Cam 
bridge  and  London,  and  to  some  other  also  in  the 

Court If  of  any  great  personages,  or  men 

of  countenance,  you  have  heard  me  blamed  as  a 
vain  man,  or  full  of  fancies,  I  will  witness  this  for 

1  Compare  Strype's  Grindal,  142-145. 


502  THINKING.  [On.  XVIII. 

myself  in  the  fear  of  God,  —  I  have  never  broken 
the   peace  of  the  Church,  neither  for  cap  nor  sur 
plice,  for  archbishop  nor  bishop.    If  those  that  should 
be  lights  of  the  world  do  think  me  fantastical,  these 
are  my  fancies :  —  that  I  have  told  them  of  their 
common  swearing  by   the  name  of  God  in  vain;1 
that  I  have  disliked  their  covetousness ;  that  I  have 
complained    of  Papists    that    have    not    once    these 
twelve    years    received  "  —  the    communion  ;    "  that 
I  have  said  this  courtly  apparel "  —  of  Church  digni 
taries —  "is  not  meet  for  such  as  should  be  more 
sober;  that   I   would   not   use   company,   of  delight, 
with  such  as  were  open  persecutors  of  the  Church 
of  God;  that  it  hath  grieved  me  to  see  a  benefice 
of  a  great  parish  given,  from  a  spiritual  pastor,  to  a 
temporal  man;  that  for  a  hundred   pounds  in  gold, 
the    bishop   would    give    his    good-will    to   grant   a 
lease  of  a  benefice,  for  a  hundred  years  to  come, 
to  a  gentleman  in  the  country.      If  these  fancies  be 
odious,  I  am  well   content  to  bear  their   reproach. 
And   most   heartily   I   beseech   the   living   Lord  to 
give   unto  you  also  pure  eyes,  that   you  may  see 
such   enormities.    I   do  wish   you  well,  neither  for 
your  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  for  your  great  authority 
because   you   can   give   me   a   living ;   but   because 

1  At  first,  my  confidence  in  Mr.  seen  a  few  pages  farther  on  In  our 

Strype  led  me  to  adopt  his  state-  narrative,  Mr.  Deering  "  loved  the 

ment  (Life  of  Parker,  p.  380),  that  bishops   as   brethren,    and   honored 

Deering  here  charges  the  vice  of  them  as  elders."   He  could  not  have 

profane  swearing  upon  the  bishops,  had  these  sentiments  towards  per- 

I  now    deny  it;   because, —  I.Mr,  sons  addicted  to  "  common  swearing 

Deering  does  not  designate  bishops,  by  the  name  of  God  in  vain."     Mr. 

but  only  some  persons  who,  from  their  Strype  has  inadvertently  done  Mr. 

position,   "  should  be  lights  of  the  Deering  wrong, 
world  " ;  and  2.  Because,  as  will  be 


CH.  XVIII.]  THINKING.  503 

you  have  professed  the  Gospel,  are  a  magistrate  in 
the  commonwealth  where  Christ  is  truly  preached, 
and  do  yet  now  sustain  much  hatred  of  the  enemy. 
Because  you  are  such  a  one,  I  desire  your  prosperity ; 
and  God  will  keep  me  from  this  great  sin,  that  I 
should  cease  to  pray  for  you."1 

Thus  wrote  Edward  Deering  —  one  of  the  "  cow 
ards" —  in  1570,  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  Chancellor 
of  Cambridge.  Deering  was  then  Lady  Margaret 
Lecturer  in  the  University,  and  was  in  the  habit 
of  plain  speaking  even  to  the  highest  dignitaries,2 
never  mincing  words  to  mollify  truth  when  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  speak.  In  like  manner  he 
wrote  again  to  Cecil,  when  Lord  Burleigh,  in 
1572 ;  which  his  Lordship  temperately  answered, 
although  the  letter  seemed  to  him  unreasonably 
sharp.3  In  his  sermon  before  the  queen,  February 
25,  1569,  he  had  had  the  boldness  to  say:  "If  you 
have  sometimes  said,"  —  meaning  in  the  days  of 
her  sister  Mary,  —  "As  a  sheep  appointed  to  be 
slain,  take  heed  you  hear  not  now  the  prophet  as 
an  untamed  and  unruly  heifer." 4  He  had  been  chap- 


1  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  pp.  "  They,"  the  non-conformists, "  be- 
120-122.  came   so    bold,   that   one   told  the 

2  Strype's  Parker,  380.  queen  openly  in  a  sermon,  '  she  was 

3  Strype's      Annals,     HI.    282-  like  an  untamed  heifer  that  would 
284.  not  be  ruled  by  God's  people,  but 

4  Brook,  I.  210,  who  cites  the  ser-  obstructed  his  discipline.'"  —  Izaak 
mon  itself.  Walton's  Life  of  Hooker ;  Hooker's 

"One    preacher    informed    her  Works,  I.  37. 

Majesty,  that    she  had  begun    her  Such  are  specimens  of  the  very 

reign  with  the  meekness  of  a  lamb  ;  essential  perversions,  given  by  dif- 

but  she  was  now  an  untamed  heifer,  ferent  writers,  of  the  words  of  Mr. 

The  story  is  told  by  all  Puritan  writ-  Deering.       They     are     suggestive, 

ers." — Marsden's    Early    Puritans,  gravely  so,  to  the  student  of  history 

p.  31.  in  any  of  its  departments.     Brook's 


504  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVIII. 

lain  to  the  late  Duke  of  Norfolk,  with  whom  he 
had  been  faithful  and  equally  plain-spoken.1  The 
letter  which  we  have  quoted  discloses,  not  only 
the  character  of  the  writer,  but  a  mournful  state 
of  affairs  in  the  Church. 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  considered  Mr. 
Deering  a  man  of  overmuch  heat  and  overlittle 
solidity, —  in  a  word,  of  "too  much  childishness";2 
which  opinion  we  shall  hereafter  have  opportunity 
to  weigh.  Contrary  to  the  Primate's  judgment,  the 
man  was  esteemed  a  great  preacher  and  a  great 
scholar  in  London  and  in  Cambridge ; 3  and,  in  1572, 
had  been  appointed  Reader  and  Preacher  at  St. 
Paul's,  where  he  drew  immense  auditories.4 

His  Grace  did  not  fail  to  keep  his  eye  on  one 
who  plagued  men  of  countenance  about  their  covet- 
ousness  and  swearing.  His  sermons  were  reported 
at  Lambeth  Palace,  and  spies  were  set  to  watch  him 
narrowly  in  private,  that  they  might  entangle  him 
in  his  talk.5  It  was  not  long  before  he  was  brought 
up  before  the  Privy  Council,  —  between  the  18th 
and  the  24th  of  April,  1573,6 —  about  the  time  when 
others,  as  we  have  mentioned,  were  summoned  to 
be  sifted  of  their  opinions.  But  he,  to  answer  not 
only  questions,  but  charges.  He  had  not  violated 
any  law  of  the  land.  He  had  not  said  anything 
against  the  queen's  supremacy.  Although  "  disaffect 
ed  to  bishops  and  ceremonies,"7  he  was  peaceable 

citation  of  the  sermon  itself  is,  there-        5  Strype's  Annals,  III.  398.   Mur- 

fore,  valuable.  din,  272. 

1  Brook,  I.  194.  c  "  The  3d  of  April,  Tuesday  was 

2  Strype's  Parker,  380.  sevennight "  ;  a  date  given   in  the 

3  Ibid.  charge.     Strype's  Parker,  413. 
*  Strype's  Annals,  III.  282,  398.         7  Fuller,  Bk.  IX.  p.  109. 

Brook,  I  194. 


CH.  XVIII.]  THINKING.  505 

with  regard  to  both.  He  had  not  defamed  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  ; l  but  had  kept  to  it,  and  to  the 
surplice,  and  to  the  four-cornered  mathematical  cap,2 
though  he  liked  them  not. 

But  the  man  had  been  thinking.  Instead  of  dip 
ping  stale  theology  and  crude  maxims  out  of  dead 
men's  tanks,  he  had  been  going  to  living  fountains. 
Instead  of  lazily  and  stingily  retailing  to  the  thirsty 
what  men  had  sometime  distilled,  he  had  been 
earnestly  and  lavishly  dispensing  fresh  and  living 
waters,  which  he  himself  had  drawn  from  the  Word. 
There  was  no  act  of  Parliament  against  this,  but 
there  was  danger  in  it,  —  to  Church  and  State,  to 
Hierarchy  and  Crown.  Besides,  he  had  "drawn 
away  many  proselytes.  Therefore  it  was  thought 
convenient"  soon  after  he  came  to  London,  " to  silence 
him  from  preaching  his  lecture  any  more."3  To 
effect  this,  he  was  charged  before  the  Council  with 
thinking, — with  thinking,  and  telling  his  thoughts 
from%  the  pulpit ;  for  he  had  been  heard  to  say 
things  '•  which  were  interpreted  to  reflect  upon  the 
magistrate,  and  tending  to  the  breach  of  the  peace  of 
the  Church."  4 

One  bad  thought  of  his  was  —  bad,  for  it  reflected 
upon  venerable  usage  —  that  it  was  barbarous  and 
unbecoming  a  Christian  country  to  leave  a  gibbeted 
corpse  to  be  flouted  by  the  winds  and  eaten  by 
unclean  birds;  another,  that  Christ's  descent  into 
the  world  of  woe  was  a  superstitious  error  of  the 
fathers ;  another,  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were 
not  only  of  the  body,  but  of  the  spirit  also ;  another, 

1  Strype's  Annals,  III.  415.  3  Strype's  Annals,  HI.  282. 

8  Strype's  Parker,  380. 

VOL.   I.  64 


506  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVIII. 

that  believers  in  Christ  reign  with  him  and  have  no 
Lord  but  him,  and  so  were  free  from  "  bondage  to 
trifles/'  —  which  was  tJiougM  u  to  free  them  from 
earthly  magistrates";  another,  that  a  congregation 
had  a  right  to  elect  their  own  minister,  —  anti-prelati- 
cal,  certainly;  another,  that  now-a-days  gown  and 
cap  and  tippet  were  taken  as  vouchers  of  honesty 
and  learning  and  grace,  so  that,  if  a  man  had  them, 
he  was  thought  well  enough  for  a  good  minister, 
though  he  should  never  come  near  his  benefice  nor 
preach.1 

These  opinions  were  novelties,  and  therefore  sus 
picious  ;  they  jostled  against  old  notions  and  usages, 
and  were  therefore  dangerous.  They  might  bring 
about  a  Muncer's  Commonwealth,  with  its  anarchy 
and  community  of  goods. 

We  have  no  record  of  what  transpired  upon  Mr. 
Deering's  appearance  before  the  Council,  except  that 
for  these  sayings  he  was  suspended  from  preaching.2 

On  the  3d  of  June,  Edwin  Sandys,  Bishop  of  Lon 
don,  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  Lord 
Treasurer  Burleigh;  from  which  it  would  appear 
that  he  was  moved  so  to  write  because  of  the  com 
motion  in  his  diocese  which  the  silencing  of  a 
preacher  so  popular  had  occasioned. 

"MY    SINGULAR   GOOD    LORD  ! 

"  Falling  into  consideration  of  such  speech  as 
passed  from  Mr.  Deering  of  late  before  the  Lords  of 
the  Council,  I  evidently  see  that  he  upon  great  sim 
plicity  hath  cast  himself  into  great  danger.  A  well- 
advised  man  would  not  have  made  such  an  unad- 

1  Strype's  Parker,  381,  413.  2  Ibid.,  413,  426  ;  Annals,  III.  398. 


CH.  XVIIL]  THINKING.  507 

vised  offer.1  If  it  would  please  your  Lordship  to 
procure  the  consent  of  the  Council,  that  he  might 
be  released  thereof,  and  suffered  to  read  his  lecture, 
so  that  he  only  teach  sound  doctrine,  exhort  to  vir 
tue  and  dehort  from  vice,  and  touching  matters  of 
order  and  policy  meddle  not  with  them,  but  leave 
them  to  the  magistrate  to  whom  reformation  per- 
taineth,  as  I  think  he  would  yield  thereunto,  so  in 
my  opinion  to  deliver  him  from  the  other,"  —  the 
offer,  —  "  and  to  bring  him  on  to  this,  your  Lordship 
should  do  that  which  is  fittest  for  the  present  time. 
It  would  quiet  many  minds  now  set  on  floughter 
[set  a-flutter  ?].  I  see  more  than  I  say,  and  feel  more 
than  I  complain  of.  Truly,  my  Lord,  these  are  dan 
gerous  days,  full  of  itching  ears,  mislying  minds,  and 
ready  to  forget  all  obedience  and  duty.  I  think 
that  a  soft  plaster  is  better  than  a  sharp  corrosive, 
to  be  applied  to  this  sore.  Such  are  the  times,  if 
this  man  be  somewhat  spared,  and  yet  well  schooled, 
the  others,  being  manifest  offenders,  may  be  dealt 
withal  according  to  their  desert.  If  your  Lordship 
like  thereof,  and  give  me  commission  to  deal  with 
him  herein,  I  would  gladly  do  it,  not  doubting  but 
that  it  tendeth  to  good.  Thus  I  take  my  leave  of 
your  good  Lordship,  commending  the  same  to  the 
good  direction  of  God's  Holy  Spirit.  From  my 
house  at  Fulham,  3  June,  1573."  2 

1  What  offer  ?     Was  it  his  prom-  taken  some  slight  liberties  with  this 
ise  to  give  a  frank  statement  of  his  letter,  for  the  sake  of  rendering  it  as 
views   on   certain  points  ?    "  to  set  I  understand  it,  I  give  it  also  exactly 
down  his  mind  how  far  he  would  as  in  the  copy  before  me. 

yield  in  anything  he  should  be  re-  «  My  singuier  good  LORD, 

quired?"      (Strype's    Annals,    III.  "Falling  unto  Consideration  of  such 

415.     Brook,  I.  201.)  Speche  as  passed  from  Mr.  Deryng  of 

2  Murdin,  255,  256.     As  I  have  late  before  the  Lordes  of  the  Coun- 


508 


THINKING. 


[Cn.  XVIII. 


Soon  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  Mr.  Deering  was 
again  called  before  the  Council,  who  questioned  him 
"  concerning  his  allowance  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles, 
to  be  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God  •  and  also  con 
cerning  the  consecration  of  archbishops  and  bishops, 
and  some  other  articles," l  —  "  dangerous  ones  taken 
out  of  Cartwright's  Book."  This  they  did  to  deter 
mine  the  question  whether  it  were  best  to  restore 
him.2  In  his  answers  he  let  it  appear  that  he  thought 
well  of  Cartwright's  principles,  and  "  very  ill "  of  a 
prelatical  establishment.  But  notwithstanding  this, 
Bishop  Sandys  succeeded ;  and  at  some  time  before 
the  6th  of  July,  the  Council  took  off  the  suspension, 
and  without  advising  with  the  Archbishop  or  with 
the  Commissioners.3 


sayl,  I  evydently  see  that  he  upon 
grete  Simplycitie  hath  cast  himself 
into  grete  Danger ;  a  wel  advised 
man  wold  not  have  made  such  an 
unadvised  Offer ;  if  it  wold  please 
your  good  Lordship  to  procure  the 
Consent  of  the  Counsayl,  that  he 
might  be  released  therof,  and  suf 
fered  to  reade  his  Lecture,  so  that  he 
only  teache  sounde  Doctryne,  exhort 
to  Vertue,  and  dehort  from  Vice ;  and 
touching  maters  of  Order  and  Polle- 
cy,  medle  not  with  them,  but  leave 
them  to  the  Magistrate,  to  whom  Ref 
ormation  perteyneth,  as  I  thinke  he 
wold  yilde  theronto  ;  so  in  my  Opyn- 
ion  to  delyver  hym  from  the  other, 
and  to  bryng  hym  on  to  this,  your 
Lordshippes  shuld  do  that  which  is 
fittest  for  the  present  Tyme ;  yt  wold 
quyet  many  Myndes  nowe  set  on 
floughter.  I  see  more  than  I  saye, 
and  feale  more  than  I  complayn  of. 


Truly,  my  Lord,  these  ar  dangerouse 
Dayes,  full  of  ytching  Earys,  misly- 
ing  Myndes,  and  redy  to  forget  all 
Obedience  and  Duetye.  I  thinke  that 
a  soft  Plaster  is  better  than  a  sharpe 
Corosy ve  to  be  applyed  to  this  Sore ; 
such  are  the  Tymes.  Yf  this  man  be 
somwhat  spared,  and  yet  well  scoled, 
the  other  beyng  manifest  Offenders 
maye  be  delt  withall  according  to 
ther  Desertys.  Yf  your  Lordship 
lyke  therof,  and  gyve  me  Commysion 
to  deale  with  hym  herin,  I  wold  gladly 
do  it,  not  doubting  but  that  it  tend- 
eth  to  good.  Thus  I  take  my  Leave 
of  your  good  Lordship,  commending 
the  same  to  the  good  Direction  of 
God's  Holy  Spyryte.  From  my 
house  at  F.  3.  Junii,  1573." 

1  Strype's  Parker,  [452]. 

2  Ibid.,  426. 

3  Ibid.,  426,  433,  [452].     Bishop 
Sandys  signed  a  letter  jointly  with 


CH.  XVIII.] 


THINKING. 


509 


But  although  the  Bishop  of  London  had  "pro 
cured  his  restoration/' l  he  soon  became  so  dissatis 
fied  with  Mr.  Deering's  preaching,  that  he  repented 
himself;  and  resolved  upon  the  "sharp  corrosive" 
of  again  silencing  him,  however  much  the  people 
might  be  "set  on  floughter."2  He  therefore  corn- 


Archbishop  Parker,  dated  July  6th, 
complaining  of  Deering's  restoration, 
and  of  its  having  been  granted,  "  our 
advices  never  required  thereunto." 
(Strype's  Parker,  483.)  He  must 
have  subscribed  to  this  officially 
only,  as  a  commissioner. 

1  Strype's  Parker,  428. 

2  Strype  immediately  precedes  his 
statement    that  Mr.    Deerin^    was 

O 

"  silenced  a  second  time,"  with  the 
following:  "Between  Deering  and 
the  Bishop  of  London,  after  he  had 
procured  him  to  read  his  lecture 
again,  there  happened  some  contest. 
For  when  Deering  came  to  the  Bish 
op  to  tell  him  that  the  Council  had 
by  their  letters  restored  him,  .... 
the  Bishop  desired  to  see  his  letters. 
He  answered,  they  were  at  home." 
(Mr.  Strype  here  adds  parentheti 
cally,  "  Indeed,  the  Council  gave  him 
no  letters.")  "  The  Bishop  said  he 
would  see  them,  or  he  should  not 
read;  and  added,  that,  except  he 
read  more  soberly  and  discreetly 
than  he  had  done,  he  would  forbid 
him  reading  in  Paul's.  Deering 
replied,  'If  you  do  forbid  me,  I 
think  that  I  shall  obey,  lest  some 
disordered  fellows  bid  you  come  off 
your  horse  when  you  shall  ride  down 
Cheapside,'  —  boasting  of  his  popu 
larity.  But  the  Bishop  in  some  heat 
answered,  «  Your  threatenings  shall 
not  terrify  me.  For  I  will  forthwith 
ride  down  Cheapside,  to  try  what 


your  disordered  scholars  will  do.'  " 
(Strype's  Parker,  428.) 

This  narrative  lacks  the  stamp  of 
probability  in  every  feature.  The 
bullying  insolence  here  ascribed  to 
Mr.  Deering  utterly  conflicts  with 
his  character,  and  the  retort  of  the 
Bishop,  with  his.  One  would  think 
the  talkers  school-boys,  not  grave 
and  bearded  divines. 

Besides,  the  Bishop's  words  are 
all  as  if  he  were  unwilling  that  Mr. 
Deering  should  be  reinstated  in  his 
work,  and  yet  his  Lordship  had  just 
volunteered  a  special  effort  to  have 
him  reinstated.  The  whole  story  is 
as  unaccountable  as  that  Mr.  Strype 
should  say  "the  Council  gave  him 
no  letters,"  and  yet,  five  pages  be 
low,  give  us  the  written  testimony 
of  the  Bishop  himself  of  "  the  Coun 
cil's  letter  writ  to  Deering  to  restore 
him."  (Strype's  Parker,  433.) 

I  cannot  doubt  that  Mr.  Strype 
throughout  this  paragraph  was  mis 
taken. 

That  "  it  was  Deering's  custom 
to  lie,  and  commonly  noted  of  him," 
(Strype's  Parker,  434,)  needs  strong 
er  testimony  than  the  naked  asser 
tion  of  the  annalist  or  the  Bishop. 
Why,  in  so  grave  a  case,  should  Mr. 
Strype,  deviating  from  his  usual 
custom,  omit  to  give  us  in  his  ap 
pendix  that  letter  of  the  Lord  Treas 
urer  upon  the  subject  ? 

We  might  with  more  plausibility 


510  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVHL 

plained  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  and  Council,  that  the 
Lecturer  at  Paul's  was  now  preaching  against  the  con 
stitution  of  the  Church,1  and  prayed  him  to  procure 
the  queen's  order  to  forbid  Mr.  Deering  to  read  his 
lectures  any  more.  The  order  was  obtained,  and  Mr. 
Deering  was  again  silenced.2 

Further  process  was  then  instituted  against  him 
before  the  Lords  of  Council,  for  words  alleged  to 
have  been  uttered  by  him  at  a  public  dinner  on  the 
llth  of  December,  1572.  He  was  charged  that  he 
had  then  spoken  against  godfathers  and  godmothers ; 
that  he  had  said  that  the  Statute  of  Provision  for  the 
poor  was  incompetent,  and  that  he  could  provide  for 
them  in  two  ways,  —  first,  by  committing  them  to 
the  rich  to  be  kept,  and  second,  by  doing  away  with 
such  things  as  superfluous  plate  then  upon  the  table ; 
as  though  he  were  for  "  a  community  of  goods."  It 
was  further  charged  against  him,  that  he  put  off  his 
cap  and  said,  "  Now  I  will  prophesy,  Matthew  Parker 
is  the  last  Archbishop  that  ever  shall  sit  in  that 
seat."3 

There  were  also  twenty  other  articles  of  inquisi 
tion  ministered  to  him  in  the  Star-Chamber.  In 
these  interrogatories,  there  was  not  a  word  about 

say  that  "  it  was  Mr.  Strype's  custom  else   of   "  his   former    function."  — 

to  lie,"  and  then  point  to  his  words,  (Strype's  Parker,  452.) 

"the    Council    gave    him    no   let-        3  Strype's  Parker,  413;  Annals, 

ters," — disproved  by  his  own  record  III.  414. 

below.     We  prefer  to  say,  —  and  it        After  examining  all  Mr.  Strype's 

is  all  we  think,  —  "  Mr.  Strype  was  pages  on  this  subject,  I  cannot  think 

mistaken."  him  correct  (p.  413)  in  dating  the 

1  Strype's  Parker,  428.  presentation  of  this  last  charge  in 

2  This  must  have  been  after  the  April.     I  therefore   suppose    it    to 
5th  of  August ;  for  a  letter  from  the  have  been  first  preferred  after  Mr. 
Bishop  of  Ely  of  that  date  supposes  Deering's  second  suspension. 

Mr.  Deerin<r  to  be  still  in  the  exer- 


CH.  XVIIL]  THINKING.  511 

any  omission  of  duty,  or  any  overt  act ;  not  a  word 
about  what  he  had  preached,  or  what  he  had  said 
in  private.  They  were  twenty  searching  questions 
about  his  secret  thoughts  ;  not  his  thoughts  about  the 
sinfulness  of  man,  or  salvation  by  Christ,  or  justifica 
tion  by  faith  which  hath  works,  or  heaven,  or  hell ; 
but  his  thoughts  about  the  consecration  and  civil 
functions  of  bishops,  about  every  jot  and  tittle  of  the 
Prayer-Book,  about  the  equality  of  the  clergy,  about 
the  government,  ceremonies,  lands,  and  tithes  of  the 
Church,  about  funeral  sermons,  and  the  Communion 
at  marriages,  about  a  prescript  form  of  prayer,  about 
baptizing  the  children  of  Papists,  the  faith  of  infants, 
plurality  of  ecclesiastical  livings,  the  queen's  eccle 
siastical  and  civil  authority,  and  such  like  things.1 

The  bishops  also  required  of  him  to  acknowledge 
and  subscribe  the  four  following  articles :  —  1.  That 
the  Book  of  Articles  agreed  upon  in  the  Convoca 
tion  of  1562-3  was  according  to  the  Word  of  God. 
2.  That  the  queen  was  chief  governor,  next  under 
Christ,  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  well  in  ecclesi 
astical  as  in  civil  causes.  3.  That  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  there  was  nothing  evil,  or  repug 
nant  to  the  Word  of  God,  but  that  it  might  be  well 
used  in  the  Church  of  England.  4.  That  the  public 
preaching  of  the  Word  of  God  in  the  Established 
Church  was  sound  and  sincere  ;  and  that  the  public 
order  in  the  ministration  of  the  sacraments  was  con 
sonant  to  the  Word  of  God.2 

Mr.  Deering  was  aware  that  his  opinion  respecting 
the  lordship,  or  civil  magistracy,  of  bishops  —  al 
though  he  had  not  vaunted  it  —  was  "the  main 

1  Strype's  Annals,  HI.  415-417.  2  IbitL 


512  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVIII. 

thing  that  created  him  enemies.1  Therefore,  to  pre 
pare  the  way  for  his  answer  in  the  Star-Chamber,2 
he  largely  expressed  his  views  upon  this  subject  in  a 
letter  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  Burleigh,  on  the  first  of 
November.  After  premising  that  in  his  very  heart 
he  had  always  honored  the  magistrate,  that  in  his 
speech  he  had  never  disregarded  the  peace  of  the 
Church,  that  even  the  Bishop  of  London  had  of  late 
exonerated  him  of  such  a  pulpit  fault,  and  that  it 
had  been  determined  to  silence  him  only  lest  he 
should  speak  offensively,  —  he  frankly  and  plainly 
declares :  — 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  the  lordship,  or  civil  govern 
ment  of  bishops,  is  utterly  unlawful."  After  stating 
a  Scriptural  reason  for  this  opinion,  he  says  :  "  Let 
Him,  therefore,  that  is  King  of  kings  have  the  pre- 
eminency  of  government.  Let  Him  whose  dominion 
is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  have  the  sword  and  the 
sceptre  that  is  not  fleshly.  Let  not  a  vile  Pope,  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  erect  a  new  kingdom  which  Christ 
never  knew,  —  a  kingdom  of  this  world  which  in  the 
ministry  the  Gospel  hath  condemned  :  which  kind  of 

rule  hath mingled  together  heaven  and  earth 

in  confusion ;  so  that  God's  ordinance  cannot  prevail 
to  deliver  the  sword  into  the  hand  of  the  magistrate 
and  take  the  "Word  into  the  mouth  of  the  minister. 
....  The  Popish  prelacy  hath  shamed  the  princes, 
and  sometimes  raised  up  such  rebellions  as  have  cost 
their  kings  both  crown  and  life.  Of  these  examples, 
a  great  many ;  but  I  remember  not  one  archbishop, 
or  lord  bishop,  that  ever  saved  a  country,  or  brought 
peace  into  it The  king's  minister  or  pastor 

1  Strype's  Annals,  III.  400.  2  Ibid.,  399. 


CH.  XVIII.l  THINKING.  513 

hath  his  authority  equal  over  king  and  subject;  but 
the  king's  pastor  must  not  execute  civil  punishment 
against  his  prince.  Therefore  the  king's  pastor  can 
be  no  civil  magistrate What  power,  what  au 
thority,  will  you  give  unto  him  ?  Will  you  set  him 
upon  a  seat  of  justice,  and  put  a  sword  in  his  hand  ? 
Then  bring  the  prince  to  plead  her  cause, — '  Guilty,' 
or  '  Not  guilty '  ?  Fie  upon  the  Pope,  that  hath  so 
dishonored  God,  and  made  the  glory  of  his  judgment 
sent  to  be  spotted  in  the  countenance  of  a  faint 
hearted  king  !  We  will  be  no  proctors  for  such  an 
untimely  fruit,  that  hath  made  princes  bondmen,  no 
bility  thraldom,  and  himself  a  tyrant.  Let  us  learn 
a  better  lesson  from  our  Saviour,  Christ,  —  Date 
Ccesari  quae  sunt  Ccesaris,  et  quae  sunt  Dei,  Deo.  The 
prince  alone  is  the  person  in  the  world  to  whom  God 
hath  committed  the  seat  of  justice,  and  they  only  to 

execute  the  duty  of  it  to  whom  it  is  committed 

The  minister  is  appointed  for  another  defence,  where 
horsemen  and  chariots  will  do  no  good.  They  may 
hinder  the  minister,  and  make  him  forget  his  duty : 
they  cannot  profit  him  in  his  office  and  function.  He 
must  frame  the  heart,  on  which  you  cannot  set  a 
crown,  and  edify  the  soul,  which  flesh  and  blood  can 
not  hurt.  He  sealeth  unto  the  conscience  God's 
mercies,  which  are  sweeter  than  life,  and  maketh  rich 
the  thoughts  with  righteousness  and  peace  which 
shall  abide  forever.  To  those  that  are  disobedient, 
he  pronounceth  the  judgment  that  maketh  the  heart 
afraid ;  and  to  the  poor  in  spirit  he  bringeth  com 
fort  which  no  tongue  can  express.  And  to  these 
things,  what  availeth  sword  or  spear  ?  God  asketh 
but  a  tongue  that  is  prepared  to  speak,  and  he  minis- 

VOL.  i.  65 


514  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVIII. 

tereth  the  power  that  is  invisible.  And  cursed  be  the 
times  that  have  bewitched  to  set  up  dumb  dogs  in  so 
honorable  a  place. 

"  If  this  function  were  supplied  with  dutiful  officers, 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  God  hath  given  them, 
would  vanquish  Satan,  and  destroy  the  power  of  dark 
ness,  till  the  knowledge  of  God  were  plentiful  upon 
earth,  and  all  the  joys  of  heart  were  sealed  unto  men 
in  perfect  beauty ;  till  the  eyes  did  see  great  happi 
ness  in  the  face  of  the  heavens,  and  the  ear  did  hear 
the  sweet  harmony  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins;  till 
the  meat  tasted  of  that  secret  manna,  of  which  he 
should  eat  forever,  and  his  drink  were  pure,  of  the 
water  of  life  which  proceedeth  out  of  the  throne  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb ;  till  his  garments  did  smell  of 
the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  life  did  shine 
the  life  of  immortality.  But  I  will  not  go  about  to 
express  it  in  words  which  the  ear  cannot  hear,  nor 
the  tongue  speak.  I  beseech  the  Lord  make  you  feel 
the  pleasure  of  it  within,  till  all  the  world  be  but 
dung  in  respect  of  Christ.  For  in  Him  all  honor  is  a 
glorious  blessing ;  and  without  Him,  but  a  covering 
of  an  after  woe.  And  when  it  shall  fall  in  the  dust, 
his  sight  of  the  sorrow  that  is  behind  shall  make  the 
man  to  mourn  when  it  is  too  late.  If  you  will  know 
this  thoroughly  and  indeed,  procure  their  liberty 
which  will  tell  you  the  truth 

a  But  now  again  to  our  purpose As  the 

minister  hath  nothing  to  do  with  the  temporal  sword, 
so  much  less  it  becometh  him  to  be  called  a  lord.  The 
reason  is  plain  in  Scripture." 

Here  he  urges,  pertinently  and  pun  gently,  the  vari 
ous  humble  appellatives  by  which  ministers  are  de- 


CH.  XVIIL]  THINKING.  515 

nominated  in  the  New  Testament ;  and  also  several 
texts  which  are  direct  to  his  point.  He  then  pro 
ceeds  :  — 

"  These  Scriptures  that  have  been  alleged  are  no 
vain  authorities,  that  are  easily  rejected ;  nor  any 
dark  speeches,  that  are  hardly  understood.  The  words 
are  written  by  the  apostles  and  prophets ;  and  they 
have  the  strength  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  They  shall 
sound  far  and  near,  and  accomplish  the  work  for 
which  they  were  spoken,  though  all  the  world  were 
in  arms  against  them.  In  vain  we  cry,  '  The  State  ! 
the  State  ! '  and  '  The  Commonwealth ! '  when  indeed 
there  is  no  state  nor  no  commonwealth.  For  the 
lordship  of  a  bishop  hath  ever  been  a  plague-sore  in 
the  state  of  a  kingdom,  and  is  at  this  day  a  swelling 
wound,  full  of  corruption,  in  the  body  of  a  common 
wealth And  yet,  if  the  state  did  require  $, 

the  voice  of  the  lord  must  be  obeyed,  though  all  the 
kingdoms  in  the  earth  did  fall  before  it.  God  is  not 
a  man,  that  we  may  control  his  honor.  He  hath  made 
both  heaven  and  earth  ;  and  when  he  shall  appear, 
all  the  creatures  of  the  world  shall  be  moved  at  his 
presence,  and  the  children  of  men  shall  throw  down 
their  crowns.  Let  us  harden  our  hearts  as  the  ada 
mant  stone  not  to  hear  his  counsel,  yet  when  the 
force  of  his  word  shall  knit  together  again  our  bones 
and  ashes,  that  they  may  arise  into  eternal  life,  we 
shall  say  then,  '  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord/  .... 

"And  now,  to  shut  up  this  long  discourse,  (which 
yet,  I  pray  God,  it  doth  not  make  you  weary,)  let 
us  a  little  remember  the  honor  of  our  Archbishop, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ.  He  was  born  of  a  poor  woman, 


516  THINKING.  [CH.  XVIII. 

in  a  strange  place,  and  received  into  an  inn,  and  put 
forth  into  a  stable,  wrapt  in  coarse  clothes,  and  laid 
in  a  manger;  persecuted  from  his  swaddling-clothes 
into  strange  countries,  returning  home  in  fear,  and 
often  hiding  himself;  brought  up  in  the  sweat  of 
his  brows,  and  the  occupation  of  his  father ;  mocked 
with  his  base  parentage,  and  reproached  with  the 
name  of  beggarly  Nazareth ;  not  one  of  the  nobility 
known  to  favor  him,  but  a  poor  company  which 
were  basely  despised.  In  all  his  greatest  glory  he 
was  laughed  to  scorn ;  and  the  title  of  his  kingdom 
was  set  upon  a  cross  of  shame.  And  in  this  estate 
doth  he  not  say  unto  his  disciples,  'I  have  ap 
pointed  you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed 
unto  me '  /  (Luke  xxii.  29.)  And  how  can  you  frame 
out  of  this  pattern,  either  pope's  monarchy  or  the 
bishop's  kingdoms  ;  either  a  triple  crown  so  far 
above  princes,  or  a  sumptuous  mitre  so  unmeet  for 
Apostles  ? 

"  Surely,  my  Lord,  this  gear  it  will  not  stand.  It 
is  a  plant  which  our  Father  in  heaven  never  planted ; 
and  it  will  be  rooted  out.  It  is  of  the  Pope,  and  it 
shall  drink  of  the  same  cup  of  confusion ;  of  which 
the  Pope  hath  begun  unto  them.  And  doubt  you 
not,  but  it  is  of  the  Pope.  For  besides  the  plain 
ness  of  the  Word  of  God,  it  is  also  printed  before 
your  eyes,  that  you  might  see  the  truth,  though 
you  would  not  hear  it.  For  where  is  this  Lordship 
in  the  greatest  honor,  but  where  the  Pope's  Holi 
ness  is  set  highest  ?  Where  is  it  abated,  but  where 
the  Pope's  head  is  broken  ?  And  where  is  it  rejected, 
but  where  the  Pope  is  trodden  under  feet  ?  It  stand- 
eth  with  the  Pope  ;  it  reigneth  with  the  Pope  ;  it 


CH.  XVIIL]  THINKING.  517 

falleth  with  the  Pope ;  it  is  shamed  with  the  Pope ; 

and  is  it  not  of  the  Pope  ? 

"  But  now  I  have  to  answer  many  thoughts  which 
very  easily  will  rise  within  you.  You  will  muse  first 
of  the  state  of  the  primitive  Church;  and  think 
that  Augustine,  Ambrose,  &c.  were  all  bishops.  To 
this  I  answer,  that  if  they  were,  yet  men  must  not 
prejudice  the  Word  of  God.  True  it  is  they  were 
bishops ;  but  this  is  as  true,  they  were  no  lords, 
neither  agreed  with  our  bishops  almost  in  anything, 
save  only  names.  1.  The  bishops  and  ministers 
then  were  one  in  degree;  now  they  are  divers. 
2.  There  were  many  bishops  in  one  town.  Now 
there  is  but  one  in  a  whole  country.  3.  No  bishop's 
authority  was  more  than  in  one  city.  Now  it  is  in 
many  shires.  4.  The  bishops  then  used  no  bodily 
punishments.  Now  they  imprison,  fine,  &c.  5.  Those 
bishops  could  not  excommunicate,  or  absolve,  of  their 
own  authority ;  now  they  may.  6.  Then,  without 
consent,  they  could  make  no  ministers.  Now  they 
do.  7.  They  could  confirm  no  children  in  other 
parishes.  They  do  now  in  many  shires.  8.  Then 
they  had  no  living  of  the  Church,  but  only  in  one 
congregation.  Now  they  have.  9.  Then  they  had 
neither  officials  under  them,  nor  commissioners,  nor 
chancellors.  10.  Then  they  dealt  in  no  civil  govern 
ment,  by  any  established  authority.  11.  Then  they 
had  no  right  in  alienating  any  parsonage,  to  give 
it  in  lease.  12.  Then  they  had  the  Church  where 
they  served  the  cure,  even  as  those  whom  we  call 
now  parish  priests,  although  they  were  metropoli 
tans  or  archbishops.  These  diversities  they  are 
very  great;  and  if  your  Honor  doubt  in  any  of 


518  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVin. 

them,  when  it  shall  please  your  Honor,  we  will  re 
fuse  no  conference  with  whom  you  will 

"  If  you  will  object  against  us  the  bishops  of  our 
time,  we  may  answer  of  them  favorably,  as  before. 
We  know  their  doings.  And  our  hope  is  of  them, 
as  of  members  of  the  Church.  We  love  them  as  breth 
ren,  and  honor  them  as  elders.  And  the  Lord  grant 
that  we  have  no  cause  to  call  back  this  praise,  and 
dare  not  give  it  them.  But  this  I  must  needs  say, 
and  freely  confess,  if  I  were  in  one  of  their  places.,  I 
should  not  have  been  so  soon  persuaded.  We  are  all 
men,  and  born  in  sin.  If  one  speak  against  our 
belly,  it  hath  no  ears  ;  or  against  our  back,  it 
hath  no  eyes.  So  that  we  will  hardly  see  or  hear 
a  truth.  But  if  the  consent  of  men  of  our  times 
may  help  the  cause,  then  I  trust  it  shall  help  us  that 
all  Keformed  Churches  are  of  our  side \  and  not  one 

of  them   is  governed  by  a  lord  bishop You 

see  how  bold  I  have  been  with  your  Honor;  and 
I  am  not  ignorant  what  portion  of  my  life  I  have 
committed  into  your  hands.  But  I  have  done  no 
more  than  I  would  have  done  to  her  Majesty  her 
self,  if  such  occasion  had  been.  For  I  cannot  be 
persuaded  to  conceal  any  truth  from  such  a  magis 
trate  as  feareth  God,  and  hath  advanced  his  Gos 
pel 

"And  I  beseech  God,  in  these  grievous  times, 
to  make  me  content  with  a  good  conscience ;  and 
enrich  your  Honor  with  such  grace,  that  when  you 
shall  think  upon  him  in  your  bed,  and  remember 
him  in  your  night-watches,  you  may  remember 
the  nights  of  the  prophet  David,  and  feel  his  joy, 
that  is,  the  God  of  glory.  Amen.  Primo  Novem- 


CH,  XVIIL]  THINKING.  519 

Iris,  1573.    Your  Honor's  bounden  in  the  Lord  Jesu, 

even  as  his  own, 

EDWARD 


After  quoting  this  entire,  Mr.  Strype  says  :  "  I  shall 
make  no  reflections  upon  this  letter,  but  leave  the 
reader  to  observe  the  zeal  of  these  men  against  the 
constitution  of  the  Church,  and  to  weigh  the  strength 
of  the  argument  used  against  the  English  episcopa 
cy."  We  cheerfully  do  likewise  ;  only  asking  our 
reader  to  turn  back  and  compare  the  counter-argu 
ment  of  his  Grace  of  Canterbury. 

Concerning  the  words  alleged  to  have  been  spoken 
by  him  at  the  public  dinner,  Mr.  Deering  presented  a 
paper  to  the  Lords  of  the  Star-Chamber,  dated  No 
vember  26.  In  this  paper,  he  utterly  denied  every 
charge  except  the  last;  and  sent  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  his  denial  over  the  signatures  of  ear-witnesses. 
Respecting  the  last,  he  answered,  that  he  put  off  no 
cap  and  uttered  no  prophecy.  But  he  admitted  that 
he  said  what  might  have  been  misunderstood  as 
represented  in  the  charge.  To  what  he  did  say,  he 
answered,  that  he  would  not  excuse  it,  but  would 
submit  it  to  their  Honors'  judgment.  And  because 
it  had  been  represented  that  he  secretly  fancied  a 
community  of  things,  he  took  the  opportunity  to  say, 
"  as  before  God,  that  he  held  such  a  community  to 
be  but  a  common  confusion,  tending  to  the  spoil  of 
God's  people  and  to  the  utter  shame  of  all  his  saints  ; 
and  that  this  suspicion  against  him  was  but  a  color,  for 
they  who  most  accused  him  did  not  themselves  think 
him  to  be  an  Anabaptist,"  or  a  disciple  of  Muncer.2 

1  Strype's  Annals,  III.  400-413.      Annals,  IV.  Appendix,  511-516; 

2  The  paper  is  entire  in  Strype's    and  in  Murdin,  pp.  269-272. 


520  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVIII 

On  the  16th  of  December1  he  presented  his  writ 
ten  reply  to  the  interrogatories  propounded  to  him 
by  the  bishops.  The  second  he  freely  acknowledged. 

Under  the  first,  he  excepted,  that  no  man  might 
venture  his  absolute  warrant  that  the  consecrations 
of  bishops  prescribed  in  the  Articles  of  the  Convoca 
tion  were  equally  binding  as  though  a  part  of  the 
Word  of  God;  or  that  the  Homilies  —  which  men 
had  made  —  accorded  therewith  in  all  things.  "As 
far  as  I  know/7  was  all  he  could  subscribe. 

Under  the  third,  he  excepted,  that  the  name  priest 
implied  a  Popish  sacrifice,  and  a  fresh  sacrifice  in  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  that  to  say  on  each 
day  of  Christmas  week,  "  Thou  hast  given  us  thy 
Son  this  day,"  was  an  absurd  trifling ;  that  to  pray, 
u  Grant  us  that  which  for  our  unworthiness  we  dare 
not  ask,"  fights  against  our  faith,  which  is,  that  we 
should  come,  loldly  and  without  doubting,  to  the 
throne  of  grace,  for  what  God  hath  promised ;  that 
for  these  and  such  other  things,  he  was  afraid  to 
vouch  every  part  of  the  Prayer-Book  to  be  according 
to  the  Word  of  God. 

Under  the  fourth  article  he  wrote :  "  How  can  I 
tell  that  all  the  preaching  in  England  is  sound  and 
sincere,  when  I  hear  not  all  the  preachers  ?  And 
sometimes  those  whom  I  do  hear  preach  neither 
soundly  nor  sincerely.  But  this  is  the  fault  of  man. 
In  the  public  order  for  the  administration  of  the  sac 
raments,  there  is  an  order  how  women  may  baptize ; 
and  one  for  questions  and  crossings  in  baptism.  How 
can  I  approve  of  these  against  the  judgment  of  all " 
—  other  —  "  Keformed  Churches  and  learned  men  ? 

1  Strype's  Annals,  III.  415. 


CH.  XVIIL]  THINKING.  521 

The  sacramental  bread,  too,  in  the  form  of  a  wafer," 
—  which  is 're  quired  by  the  injunctions,1  —  "some 
churches  cannot  tolerate  it,  and  our  Parliament  hath 
appointed  common  bread  ;  what,  then,  if  I  dislike  the 
latter  ?  Again,  this  article  and  the  first,  contradict 
each  other;  this  requiring  subscription  to  all  the 
ceremonies,  and  the  Homilies  condemning  many  of 

the  same See,  I  beseech  you,  what  wrong  I 

sustain,  if  I  be  urged  to  this  subscription." 2 

We  have  here  a  key  to  the  "  stubbornness  "  of  the 
clergy  in  submitting  rather  to  deprivation  than  to 
Commissioners  who  required  subscription  and  oath 
to  the  same  preposterous  assertions  propounded  to 
Mr.  Deering.  Others,  through  stolidity,  or  self-inter 
est,  or  indolence,  or  servility,  might  take  the  Book  of 
the  Church  for  another  Bible ;  and  her  preachers,  all, 
for  preachers  inspired.  But  the  Puritan  would  sift 
before  he  would  warrant ;  would  never  exalt  litany 
or  order,  homily  or  preacher,  to  a  level  with  God's 
Word ;  would  neither  swear  away  his  manhood  to  a 
queen,  nor  sell  his  right  to  think,  for  a  stipend. 

Mr.  Deering  opened  his  answer  to  the  twenty 
articles  of  inquiry,  by  beseeching  the  Council  to 
remember  that  he  had  never  preached  against  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  but  had  publicly  witnessed 
his  good  allowance  of  it,  both  by  his  practice  and  in 
his  printed  book ;  and  adding  also,  "  that  if  notwith 
standing  he  should  be  urged  now  to  speak  what  he 
thought,  whereby  he  might  seem  to  be  called  to  a 
form  of  inquisition,  as  there  was  no  law  by  which  God 
had  tied  him  of  duty  to  be  his  own  accuser,  so  he  be 
sought  their  Honors  to  let  this  his  answer  rather  wit- 

1  Strype's  Parker,  309,  453.  2  Brook,  I.  199-201. 

VOL.  I.  66 


522  THINKING.  [Cn.  XVIII. 

ness  his  obedience  and  humble  duty,  than  be  preju 
dicial  to  his  hurt  and  hinderance." ] 

In  his  answers,  his  sentiments  expressed  to  the 
bishops  were  repeated ;  and  so,  in  a  condensed  form, 
were  those  contained  in  his  letter  of  November  1st, 
to  the  Lord  Treasurer.  These,  and  others  avowed  in 
the  same  paper,  and  alike  at  variance  with  Church 
orthodoxy,  must  have  been  anything  but  satisfactory 
to  those  ultra-Precisians  in  whose  hands,  chiefly,  the 
ecclesiastical  executive  was  then  vested.2  One  par 
ticular  "  confession "  in  this  document  claims  both 
our  special  notice  and  our  future  remembrance,  because 
it  expressed  not  only  his  own  conviction,  but,  at  this 
time,  that  of  the  Puritans  almost  without  exception. 
"If,"  said  he,  "by  the  question,  'whether  there  is 
now  any  right  ministry  in  the  Church  of  England/ 
be  meant,  '  whether  there  is  a  right  ministration  of 
the  doctrine  and  sacraments/  I  humbly  confess  that 

1  Strype's  Annals,  III.  417.  to  the  ministry  is  not  right.     If,  by 

2  From  this  paper,  I  extract  the     «  a  right  ministry,'  be  meant  a  right 
following :  —  ministration    of   the    doctrine    and 

"  If,  by  'a  right  ministry  in  the  sacraments,  I   humbly  confess  that 

Church  of  England,'  be  meant  such  no  man  ought  to  separate  himself 

as  were  set  apart,  as  was  Matthias  from  the  Church."  —  Brook,  I.  202. 
by  the  eleven  to  supply  the  place         "  So  far  as  I  have  read,  the  order 

of  Judas  ;  or  such  as  are  described  of  God's  Word   is,  that  the    choice 

by  Paul,  — '  blameless,  the  husband  of  pastors  and  other  spiritual  officers 

of  one  wife,  vigilant,  sober,  of  good  in  any  particular  church  or  parish 

behavior,  given  to  hospitality,  apt  to  hath  been  by  allowance  of  the  peo- 

teach,  not  given  to  wine,  no  striker,  pie.     But  what  is  most  requisite  at 

not  greedy  of  filthy  lucre,  but  pa-  the   present  time,  I  leave  to  those 

tient,  not  a  brawler,  not  covetous,  whom  God  hath  set  in  authority."  — 

ruling   well  their  own   houses,  not  Brook,  I.  203. 

novices,  but  having  good  report  of        "  An   ordinary  "  —  prescript  — 

them  which  are  without,  and  who  do  "  prayer  is  very  necessary,  that  it 

not  neglect  their  gifts,'  —  then  I  am  may  be  familiar  to  the  people.   But, 

sure  you  will  confess  that  the  calling  as  every  parish  will  have  its  occa- 

required  in  the  Church  of  England  sions  and  necessities,  so  it  is  neces- 


Cn.  XVIII.]  THINKING.  523 

no  man  ought  to  separate  himself  from  the  Church ; 1 
an  opinion  which,  throughout  this  reign  and  the 
next,  was  retained  by  the  Presbyterian  Puritans,  and 
kept  them  in  the  communion  of  the  Establishment 
notwithstanding  all  their  sufferings. 

We  find  no  further  notice  of  Mr.  Deering's  officiat 
ing  as  a  preacher.  In  February,  1574-5,  Dr.  Samp 
son  interceded  with  the  Lord  Treasurer  that  he 
might  be  allowed  a  lecture  at  Whittington  College 
in  London,  with  its  small  living  of  ten  pounds  a 
year.  But  in  vain.  The  Archbishop  was  relentless, 
and  "  utterly  refused "  the  promotion.2  Mr.  Deer- 
ing  died  soon  after,  June  26,  1576.3 

It  was  this  case  which  we  had  in  view  when  stat 
ing  in  a  previous  chapter,  that  where  Puritanism  was 
suspected,  even  the  cap,  and  surplice,  and  peaceful 
submission  to  the  calling  and  authority  of  bishops, 

sary  that  the  minister  be  able  to  offenders,  and  to  praise  well-doers, 
pray  in  the  congregation  according  Only  this  is  the  difference  in  the 
to  the  necessities  of  the  people."  —  sovereignty  over  both.  The  corn- 
Brook,  I.  204.  monwealth  cannot  be  without  the 

"For    one   man   to    have   many  magistrate  ;   but   if  all  magistrates 

parsonages,  where   he  cannot  pos-  fall  from  the  Church,  we  must  still 

sibly  reside,   is    great  wickedness,  hold  this  article  :  '  I  believe  in  the 

And  seeing  Christ  hath  purchased  Catholic  Church.'     For  Christ,  and 

his    Church  with    his  own    blood,  not  the  Christian  magistrate,  is  the 

whosoever    enjoys    several    livings  life  and  head  of  the    Church.     In 

considers  very   little  the  words  of  the  commonwealth,  the  prince  mak- 

Paul,  —  '  Take   heed   unto   all  the  eth  and  repealeth  laws,  as  appears 

flock,   over  which   the  Holy  Ghost  most  for  the   safety   of   the   state, 

hath  made  you  overseers,  to  feed  the  and  the  benefit  of  the  people.     But 

Church  of  God.'   I  therefore  humbly  in  the  Church,  there  is  only  ONE 

beseech  your  Honors  to  have  this  LAWGIVER,  even  JESUS  CHRIST." 

carefully  reformed."  —Brook,  1. 205.  •  -  Brook,  I.  205,  206. 

"  Princes  have  full  authority  over        *  Brook,  I.  202. 
all   ecclesiastical  and  civil  persons,        2  Strype's  Parker,  469,  470,  543. 
and  equally  over  both,  to  punish        3  Brook,  I.  210. 


524  THINKING.  [On.  XVIIL 

could  not  shield  from  annoyance  and  persecution. 
"We  have  not  inspected  its  particulars  too  minutely; 
for  in  every  step  and  feature  it  was  a  lawless  use  of 
might,  —  a  flagrant  crime  against  a  MAN.  Edward 
Deering  had  a  right  to  think.  God  gave  it  him.  It 
was  his  inalienable  property.  It  was  his  manhood. 
Nor  prelate  nor  queen  could  take  it  away  :  nor  had 
prelate  or  queen  a  right  to  touch  it.  They  did. 
They  sinned,  —  against  him,  —  against  his  Maker. 
They  did  so  without  a  shadow  of  pretence.  The 
man  was  a  conformist.  He  had  used  the  garments. 
He  had  followed  the  Book.  He  had  honored  the 
magistrate.  He  had  bridled  his  tongue  within 
the  statute.  The  Commissioners  could  not  even 
trump  up  an  accusation  against  him,  —  as  they  did 
soon  in  another  case.  The  Bishop  of  London  him 
self  had  confessed  this ;  and  in  presence  both  of  the 
queen's  attorney  and  her  solicitor.1  His  persecutors 
did  not  even  wait  to  manufacture  something  per 
taining  to  him  into  sin  by  a  new  statute,  made  on 
purpose,  and  with  a  retrospective  clause.  Others 
had  been  called  to  uncover  their  thoughts;  but  it 
was  when  on  arraignment  for  some  act  of  non-con 
formity  ;  but  this  man  was  arraigned  and  scourged 
for  his  opinions  ONLY,  —  his  unpublished  opinions,  his 
suspected  opinions,  —  for  his  opinions  lest  he  should 
speak  them ! 

We  imprecate  the  Holy  Inquisition  of  Isabella 
and  Torquemada.  Why  not,  the  Holy  Inquisition 
of  Elizabeth  and  Matthew  Parker?  What  did  that, 
more  than  this  ?  Nothing ;  except  to  rack  the  body. 
But  which  is  the  greater  sacrilege  ?  Which  is  the 

1  Strype's  Annals,  III.  401. 


CH.  XVIIIj  THINKING.  525 

more  sacred  endowment,  —  the  frame-work  of  bone 
and  muscle,  of  nerves  and  blood,  or  the  image  of 
God  within  it  ?  What  a  comment  upon  that  procla 
mation,  that  vaunted  proclamation  of  1570  !  What 
an  abandonment  of  queenly  honor !  What  an  ex 
position  of  Church  and  State !  And  yet  it  was  but 
an  opening  chapter  of  that  exposition. 

In  the  Puritan  annals  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  —  Puri 
tan  in  distinction  from  Catholic,  —  perhaps  this  case 
stands  alone ;  the  one  atrocious  instance  of  pure  in 
quisition,  of  persistent,  brazen  persecution,  of  judg 
ment  without  pretence  or  mercy,  for  nothing  hit 
opinion.  But  if  it  has  not  its  fellow,  it  has  its  lesson. 
It  shows  that  it  was  not  merely  obstinacy  about 
"  trifles "  for  which  the  Puritans  were  obnoxious ; 
and  connivance  when  trifles  were  their  only  sins 
shows  it  also.  It  shows  that  it  was  not  merely  dis 
regard  of  statute  law  for  which  they  were  laid  on  the 
threshing-floor;  and  the  greater  lenity  of  the  pow 
ers  toward  Catholic  non-conformists  shows  it  also. 
It  shows  that  it  was  not  the  outward  act  which 
bestirred  persecution;  but  the  inward  thought,  the 
anti-despotic  rudiment,  of  which  that  act  was  but 
the  index.  It  shows  how  false  and  unpardonable 
is  the  record,  that  "  Queen  Elizabeth  established  no 
inquisition  into  men's  bosoms."  *  It  shows,  too,  why 
her  Majesty  would  only  "suppress  the  Papistical 
religion  so  that  it  should  not  groiv,  but  would  root  out 
Puritanism  and  the  favorers  thereof."  2 

Fortunately,  the  sceptre  was  but  gold  ;  the  Puritan 
Idea,  iron. 

1  Hume,  m.  101,  Chap.  XL. 

2  The  Queen  to  Malvesier ;  Strype's  Annals,  IV.  242. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY. 

A  SICK  PRISONER.  —  His  CRIMES  AGAINST  PRECISIANISM.  —  His  EXAMINATION. 
—  A  NICE  POINT    CANVASSED.  —  RAILING  vs.  SCRIPTURE.  —  THE  SICK  MAN 

REMANDED   TO   PRISON.  —  DlES     FROM  WANT   AND  CONFINEMENT.  —  THE  PRI- 

MATE'S  SEVERITIES  EXCITE  DISGUST.  —  His  VINDICATION  OF  HIMSELF.  —  His 
DEATH. 

1574,  1575. 

THE  Queen's  Commissioners  Ecclesiastical  were  as 
sembled  in  Westminster  Hall,  on  the  20th  of  Febru 
ary,  1573-4,  to  execute  judgment. 

The  Gate-House,  near  by,  was  where  the  Bishop  of 
London  kept  Christian  culprits  to  await  their  trial, 
and  whither  he  sent  them  again  to  expiate  their 
crimes,  when  they  had  been  made  "  clerks  convict " 
by  sentence  of  court.1 

There  were  several  cases,  to  be  disposed  of  this 
day,  of  honest-minded  preachers  who  had  fallen  into 
sin.  "While  the  court  was  pronouncing  sentence  upon 
one  of  them,  another,  who  had  just  been  brought  in 
from  prison,  stood  eagerly  bending  over  the  small  fire 
in  a  corner,  and  spreading  out  his  hands  before  it,  as 
though  it  were  very  grateful.  He  was  pale  and  thin, 
with  a  gaunt,  hungry  look,  and  an  eye  that  drooped 
as  if  he  had  resigned  himself  to  suffer.  He  had  been 
educated  at  Cambridge,  where  he  was  Fellow  of  King's 

1  Stow's  Survey,  176.     London,  1842. 


CH.  XIX.]      THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  527 

College ;  and  had  been  chaplain,  in  1571,  to  the  Lord 
Keeper  Bacon.  He  had  been  suspended  from  the 
ministry  in  that  year,  for  refusing  subscription  to  all 
the  Articles  of  Keligion  of  the  Convocation  of  1562-3 ; 
although  he  was  willing  to  subscribe  to  the  doctrines, 
and  used  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  wore  the 
garments  prescribed  by  law.1  In  some  way  he  had 
obtained  license  to  preach  again,  and  became  minister 
of  St.  Clement's  Church  in  London.  He  had  soon 
given  offence,  and  had  been  thrown  into  the  Gate- 
House,  where  he  had  been  wasting  away  under  cold 
and  hunger.  There  had  been  a  great  dearth  of  pro 
visions  during  the  winter;  and,  "notwithstanding 
(thanks  be  to  God !)  there  had  been  no  want  of  anie 
thing  to  them  that  ivanted  not  monie"2  yet  Kobert 
Johnson  had  "wanted  monie."  For  forty-nine  days 
and  nights  he  had  paced  his  room,  and  crept  to  his 
pallet,  cold,  hungry,  sickened  by  foul  air  and  disgust 
ing  filth.  They  were  noio  going  to  find  out  whether 
he  deserved  it, — just  as  justice  treats  folks  now-a- 
days.  After  enduring  this  four  or  five  weeks,  he  had 
contrived  means  to  write  to  Bishop  Sandys,  remon 
strating  against  such  cruelty.  It  was  a  pretty  sharp 
letter ;  and  if  he  did  style  his  Lordship  "  superintend 
ent  of  Popish  corruptions  in  the  diocese  of  London," 
—  which  was  not  proper,  —  we  must  make  some  al 
lowance  for  flesh  and  blood,  when  cold  and  hungry 
and  sick.  "  "We  are  in  danger  of  our  lives,"  he  wrote 
on  the  2d  of  February,  "  in  these  filthy  jails,  more 
unwholesome  than  dunghills,  and  more  stinking  than 
pig-styes.  Take  heed,  therefore,  lest  you  get  your 
name  enrolled  amongst  the  number  of  persecutors. 

1  Neal,  I.  119.  2  Holingshed,  IV.  324. 


528  THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.       [Cn.  XIX. 

Let  not  ivorldly  policy  prevail  more  than  true  divinity. 
Let  not  the  Commission  draw  you  farther  than  God's 
Word  will  allow.  Let  not  your  palace  make  you 
forget  the  temple  of  Christ.  There  is  persecution 
enough ;  and  consider,  my  Lord,  the  present  persecu 
tion  is  among  brethren,  not  only  of  one  nation,  but 
of  one  profession ;  the  persecutors  and  the  persecuted 
believing  in  one  God,  professing  one  Christ,  embracing 
one  religion,  receiving  one  Gospel,  communicating 
in  one  sacrament,  and  having  one  hope  of  salvation. 
You  say  you  are  our  chief  pastor;  we  desire  food. 
You  say  you  are  our  doctor ;  we  desire  to  be 
taught.  This  is  the  best  way  to  win  us,  and  the 
best  for  you  to  use.  The  Fleet,  the  Gate-House, 
the  White-Lion,  the  King's  Bench,  and  Newgate,  are 
weak  arguments  to  convince  the  conscience.1 

But  such  appeals  had  weighed  nothing  against  the 
code  of  "  worldly  policy."  They  were  empty  wind  in 
the  ear  of  a  Church  Precisian.  The  prisoner  had  re 
mained  shivering  in  his  cell,  and  was  now  brought 
shivering  to  the  hall  of  judgment.  He  had  hardly 
gathered  a  little  warmth  to  his  skinny  hands,  when 
he  heard  his  name  called  to  answer.  He  coughed 
as  he  turned  around,  —  a  quick,  husky  cough ;  the 
eyes,  which  had  drooped,  were  strangely  bright; 
there  came  a  flush  upon  his  cheek;  and  he  stood 
erect  while  he  heard  his  indictment.  Marrying  with 
out  the  ring ;  baptizing  without  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross;  a  misdemeanor  in  administering  the  sacra 
ment, —  the  same  done  in  contempt  of  the  queen 
and  her  laws,  and  against  the  peace  of  the  realm ;  — 
these  were  his  accusations ! 

1  Brook,  I.  180,  181. 


CH.  XIX.]       THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  529 

"  If  it  please  your  Honors,"  moving  a  step  or  two 
in  front  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  "  may  I  not  sub 
mit  myself,  and  declare  the  truth  of  things  as  they 
were  done." 

His  Lordship  assented. 

"  I  stand  here  indicted  on  three  points.  In  respect 
to  the  contempt,  I  plead  not  guilty.  To  the  last  of  those 
charges,  I  answer  under  my  protestation,  that  at  no 
time,  in  celebrating  the  Communion,  have  I  omitted 
any  prayer  or  words  of  the  institution  which  the  book 
prescribeth.  Upon  one  occasion,  the  wine  failed ;  I 
sent  for  more ;  I  delivered  this  to  the  people,  using 
the  words  appointed  for  the  delivery,  but  not  using 
the  words  of  the  institution,  which  I  had  already  used 
at  the  beginning  of  the  ordinance.  These  I  omit 
ted  ;  partly  because  the  words  at  first  delivered  were 
sufficient,  —  it  being  an  entire  action  and  one  Sup 
per,  —  and  partly  because,  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  there  is  no  order  appointed  to  which  I  could 
refer  the  case. 

"  Once  or  twice,  I  have  omitted  to  use  the  ring 
in  solemnizing  marriage ;  but  upon  reproof  from 
my  ordinary,  I  have  corrected  this  my  default. 

"I  have  also  omitted  to  make  the  sign  of  the 
cross  in  baptism,  but  not  of  contempt.  But  seeing 
that  I  have  already  suffered  seven  weeks  in  prison, 
with  the  loss  of  my  place  and  my  living,  I  beseech 
you  judge  impartially  whether  this  be  not  sufficient 
for  so  small  a  crime.'* 

"You  were  not  sent  to  prison  for  that','  observed 
one  of  the  Commissioners,  "but  for  your  irreverent 
behavior." 

66 1  trust,  sir,  I  did  not  behave  myself  more  irrev- 

VOL.    I.  67 


530  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIKST  PRIMACY.      [Cn.  XIX. 

erently  at  the  time  of  my  commitment,  than  I  do 
now.  I  object  to  the  indictment  upon  this  charge; 
which  is,  that  in  baptism  I  omitted  the  prayer,  '  We 
receive  this  child/  &c.  I  have  never  omitted  it, 
though  I  have  omitted  the  sign  of  the  cross." 

"  These  two  matters  of  the  cross  and  the  ring 
are  lut  trifles"  said  the  Bishop  of  London.  "The 
chief  is  the  consecration  of  the  Sacrament.  As  it 
had  not  the  wrord,  it  was  no  sacrament,  and  so  the 
people  were  mocked,"  —  a  statement  which  surely 
savored  of  popular  superstition ;  capable  of  none 
other  meaning  than  that  virtue  was  imparted  to  the 
elements  by  a  form  of  words. 

"  I  do  not  say,"  replied  Mr.  Johnson,  that  the 
word  is  of  no  force.  That  it  is  necessary  to  the  sub 
stance  "  —  substantiality,  reality  —  "  of  the  Sacra 
ment,  we  both  agree.  But  herein  is  the  controversy, 
—  whether  it  be  necessary  for  the  institution  to  be 
repeated,  seeing  it  is  but  one  and  the  same  action, 
and  the  same  communicants  as  before  for  whom 
the  words  are  spoken.  If  it  had  not  been  the  same 
supper,  or  if  the  communicants  had  been  changed, 
it  would  have  been  necessary  to  rehearse  the  in 
stitution." 

"  You  like  yourself  very  well,"  the  Bishop  replied ; 
"  and  you  are  stubborn  and  arrogant.  I  have  before 
heard  of  your  stubborn  heart,  but  now  I  perceive 
it.  You  —  unlearned  —  stand  stubbornly  against  us 
all;  and  so  no  learning  will  satisfy  you."  A  singu 
lar  reply,  certainly,  to  a  rational  statement. 

"You  confess,"  said  the  Commissioner  who  had 
spoken  before,  "that  when  the  words  of  the  institu 
tion  were  recited,  you  had  no  wine." 


CH.  XIX.]       THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PIUMACY.  531 

"  I  do  not.     I  had  both  bread  and  wine." 

"  But  you  had  not  that  wine." 

«  No." 

66  Therefore  it  was  not  consecrated." 

"  The  words  before  repeated  were  sufficient/' 

"  Then  with  those  words  you  consecrated  all  the 
wine  in  the  tavern/'  said  the  Dean  of  Westminster. 

"  No,  sir ;  it  was  the  wine  that  was  brought  from 
the  tavern  to  the  church,  and  of  a  common  wine 
was  appointed  to  be  a  sacramental  wine  to  repre 
sent  Christ's  blood,  —  and  this  is  consecration." 

«  Why !  then  with  you  the  word  is  of  no  force  ! " 

"It  is  not  of  force  to  bring  any  holiness  to  the 
Sacrament.  I  trust  you  do  not  think  that  the 
word  maketh  the  bread  any  holier  when  used  in 
the  Sacrament." 

"  Yes,"  said  one  of  the  judges,  "  it  is  holy  bread." 

"  A  holy  sacrament,"  said  the  Bishop,  discreetly. 

"That  I  confess,"  answered  Mr.  Johnson.  "But 
holiness  is  in  the  use  and  end,  not  in  the  substance. 
Otherwise  you  make  a  magical  enchantment  of  it? 
not  a  consecration." 

"  If  thou  wert  well  served,  thou  wouldst  be  used 
like  a  magician,"  —  was  the  only  answer  to  this  point. 

"  Whatever  your  judgment,  I  stand  or  fall  to  my 
own  Lord."  . 

"  You  know  not  what  harm  you  have  done,"  re 
monstrated  the  Bishop  of  London  with  solemnity, 
"  by  defending  an  error  before  this  company ;  bring 
ing  them  so  into  doubt  that  they  know  not  which 
way  to  take  " ;  —  an  indiscreet  admission  that  there 
was  "  force  "  in  Mr.  Johnson's  "  words,"  upon  a  com 
mon  as  well  as  upon  a  sacramental  occasion. 


532  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.      [Cn.  XIX. 

"My  Lord,  I  defend  no  error." 

"  Nay/'  exclaimed  the  Dean  of  Westminster,  "  you 
maintain  a  horrible  heresy" 

"  If  you  were  well  served/'  said  another  Commis 
sioner,  following  the  clew  which  the  Dean  had  given, 
"you  should  fry  a  fagot!' 

"I  pray  you,  my  Lord  of  London,"  asked  Mr. 
Johnson,  "must  consecration  be  performed  before 
the  delivery  of  the  elements,  or  after  ? " 

"  I  will  not  answer." 

"  It  is  only  a  question ;  I  pray  you  answer  it." 

"  Answer  it  thyself." 

"  It  shall  be  answered,"  interposed  the  Dean  in 
cautiously.  "The  consecration  must  go  before;  for 
Christ  gave  a  sacrament,  which  could  not  be  without 
the  word.  Consecration,  therefore,  must  go  before." 

"  But  Christ  spake  the  word  after  the  distribu 
tion.  He  first  gave  the  bread,  and  then  said,  '  Take, 
eat;  this  is  my  body."3 

"And  what  then?" 

"Then,  according  to  what  you  say,  Christ  did 
not  consecrate  aright." 

By  this  citation  of  Christ's  act,  the  whole  charge 
against  the  prisoner,  of  not  using  the  word  before 
distribution,  was  virtually  quashed.  But  the  Dean 
rallied,  and  adroitly  neutralized  the  defence,  as  men 
stronger  in  power  than  in  wits,  justice,  or  Scrip 
ture  always  can,  when  pushed  to  the  wall. 

"  You  defend  a  horrible  heresy ;  for  you  reject 
the  word." 

It  is  painful  to  read  this  record.  Ministers  of 
Christ  calling  a  brother  minister  to  a  stern  reckon 
ing  for  a  casualty  in  his  ministration !  Dignitaries 


CH.  XIX.l       THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  533 

of  the  Church  flinging  supercilious  insults  in  the 
face  of  sober  reasoning!  It  is  painful  also  to  see 
how  God's  *most  glorious  ministration  of  the  Spirit" 
may  be  wrested  to  the  service  of  the  fleshy  —  how  it 
may  be  sullied  and  emasculated  by  exalting  the 
ceremonials  of  worship.  "  Hunting  on  the  Sabbath 
is  sin/'  says  the  Jewish  Talmud;  "therefore  catch 
ing  a  flea  on  that  day  is  sin,  because  it  is  a  kind 
of  hunting."  Such  is  Pharisaism,  strenuous  for 
forms !  and  to  such  whimsical,  yet  profane  extrav 
agancies,  does  ceremonial  righteousness  tend! 

After  a  little  more  dialogue,  the  Lord  Chief  Jus 
tice  peremptorily  interfered,  by  saying:  "Let  us 
make  an  end  of  this.  Charge  the  jury." 

Upon  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  of  whom  some 
were  known  Papists,  and  others  had  done  penance 
for  the  foulest  crimes,  Mr.  Johnson  was  summa 
rily  found  guilty,  and  condemned  to  a  year's  im 
prisonment.  His  chief  offence,  be  it  remembered, 
was  not  non-conformity,  for  there  was  no  pre 
script  for  such  a  case  in  the  book ;  but  an  in 
cident  for  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  which 
there  was  no  authority  whatever.  He  certainly 
had  not  gone  contrary,  in  this  affair  of  the  Sacra 
ment,  to  1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.  Sec.  II. ;  nor  can  I  find  that 
he  had  to  any  other. 

"Want !  want !  want !  how  it  shrivels  the  body, 
and  the  spirit !  How  it  makes  the  strong  man  totter, 
and  the  stout-hearted  whine !  Mate  Friendlessness 
with  Want,  and  how  they  cling  to  their  victim  like 
vampires,  —  fix  their  fangs  just  where  he  is  most  sen 
sitive,  and  thence  suck  up  his  life  by  drops  !  And 
when  wrong  comes  too,  —  unprovoked,  thrusting  its 


534  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.       [On.  XIX. 

lancinating  sting  along  every  nerve, —  with  all  upon 
him  at  once,  how  long  can  a  man  live  ?  and  how 
much  of  him  will  be  left  to  die,  when  he  dies  ?  Such 
a  trinity  will  make  Stoicism  shriek,  and  writhe,  and 
die  before  the  Stoic.  Well,  one  kind  of  man  is 
secure  against  Friendlessness  at  least;  so  that,  if 
Want  do  strip  him,  and  Wrong  do  stab  him,  and  priest 
and  Levite  do  avoid  and  mock  him  in  the  day  of 
his  calamity,  the  good  Samaritan  finds  him.  In  the 
thoroughfare,  where  scorn  and  hunger  and  blank- 
faced  forgetfulness  it  is  hardest  to  endure ;  in  the 
wilderness,  where  the  wild-flower  mocks  his  pallor, 
and  the  singing-bird  his  grief;  in  the  dungeon, 
where  the  rumble  of  a  busy  world  derides  his  des 
olation  ;  —  anywhere,  however  conditioned,  he  who 
cleaveth  closer  than  a  brother  is  his  minister.  The 
canker  of  treachery  will  eat,  and  tears  flow,  and  flesh 
waste,  and  blood  curdle,  and  the  outer  man  perish. 
But  the  inner  man  is  renewed  day  by  day;  for  to 
the  inner  ear  there  is  a  present  voice,  and  to  the 
inner  eye  a  present  smile.  The  sufferer  has  fellow 
ship  there  in  his  solitude,  sympathy  in  his  desola 
tion,  consolation  in  his  sorrow,  the  oil  of  joy  for 
mourning,  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of 
heaviness.  The  Christian  man  suffers  and  dies  under 
his  oppression ;  the  Christian  spirit  is  ministered  to, 
disrobed,  transfigured. 

This  poor  man  cried,  and  the  Lord  heard  him,  and 
delivered  him  out  of  all  his  troubles.  He  went  from 
his  judgment  to  his  prison,  his  poverty,  and  his  stint 
ed  food.  The  slight  cough  became  deep  and  rigid, 
the  filth  nauseating,  the  foul  air  fouler  and  more 
suffocating.  He  grew  paler  and  weaker.  On  the 


CH.  XIX.]       THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  535 

7th  of  March,  he  traced  a  few  lines  to  the  Bishop  of 
London,  praying  "  that  he  might  feel  some  of  his 
charitable  relief  to  preserve  him  from  dying  under 
this  hard  usage ;  that  pity  might  requite  spite,  and 
mercy  recompense  malice."  At  the  same  time,  he 
wrote,  or  indited,  a  petition  to  the  Queen  and  Council. 
On  the  19th,  the  Council  sent  the  petition  to  Arch 
bishop  Parker  and  Bishop  Sandys,  with  a  letter  from 
themselves  "pressing  these  prelates  to  take  the  case 
into  consideration,  and  to  take  such  order  therein  as 
should  appear  to  be  most  convenient."  It  appeared 
to  them  most  convenient  to  take  no  order.  After  a 
while  —  weary  weeks,  to  a  sick  man  in  a  loathsome 
jail  —  the  Council  in  some  way  heard  of  him  again, 
"  that  he  was  very  sick,  and  likely  to  die  unless  he 
might  enjoy  air  more  open."  They  therefore  wrote 
again  on  the  16th  of  May  to  the  Bishop  of  London, 
"  commanding  him  to  give  order  for  the  poor  afflicted 
man  to  be  bailed ;  and,  upon  sureties,  to  be  removed 
to  his  own  house,  to  be  in  ward  there."  But  being 
lord  in  the  precincts,  whether  the  Council  did  will  it 
or  nill  it,  Edwin  Sandys  could  do  as  he  chose.  Per 
haps  he  reasoned  from  "  worldly  policy " ;  perhaps 
he  wrested  "  true  divinity " ;  perhaps  he  thought 
that  the  "stubborn  heart,"  the  "horrible  heretic," 
had  forfeited  mercy ;  perhaps  it  was  not  "  conven 
ient  to  give  order."  But  whatever  his  reasonings  or 
his  reasons,  he  was  deaf  to  the  order  from  the  Court, 
and  to  the  cry  from  the  prison.  Kobert  Johnson 
should  have  counted  the  cost!  So  he  was  left  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  a  sordid  jailer  and  an  empty 
purse,  —  to  the  malaria  of  filth  and  the  consumption 
of  disease.  And  now,  as  life  faded,  LIFE  brightened. 


536  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY,      [CH.  XIX. 

The  Comforter  invisible  gave  him  inspiring  glimpses 
of  the  promised  rest ;  so  that  he  grew  more  serene 
and  more  cheerful  there  on  his  matted  straw,  till 
one  day  in  May  he  fell  asleep.1  I  wonder  how  Rob 
ert  Johnson  and  Edwin  Sandys  met  —  in  heaven. 

About  this,  time  —  and  doubtless  not  for  the  first 
time  —  her  Majesty  told  Archbishop  Parker  that 
"he  had  supreme  government  ecclesiastical,  and  so 
she  committed  the  chief  inspection  of  the  Church  to 
him " ; 2  by  which  she  unquestionably  meant,  that 
upon  his  vigilance  devolved  chiefly  the  execution  of 
law  upon  all  ecclesiastical  offenders.  But,  a  few 
months  after  the  events  just  narrated,  he  complained, 
"  I  may  not  work  against  Precisians  and  Puritans, 
though  the  laws  be  against  them ;  know  one,  know 
all."  He  complained,  that  "he  found  her  Majesty  to 
be  almost  the  only  one  "  —  at  Court  — u  who  was 
constant  in  being  offended  with  Puritans  " ;  that  "his 
government  was  cumbered  with  subtilties " ;  that 
"  divers  of  his  brethren,  the  bishops,  had  deserted 
him,  —  some  of  whom  were  working  secretly  against 
him " ;  that  "  there  was  a  policy  on  foot  to  work 
overthwartly  against  the  queen's  religion  stablished 
by  law  and  injunction,  of  which  policy  he  would 
not  be  partaker."  Under  these  circumstances  he 
began  to  withdraw  from  "  the  business  of  metropol 
itan  and  of  chief  overseer  of  the  Church,"  seldom 
appearing  at  the  Court  or  even  sending  letters  thith 
er.  The  reason  of  this  seems  to  have  been,  that  "  it 
irked  him  sorely  to  see  that  he  could  not  do  that 
good  service  "  —  according  to  his  way  of  thinking  — 

1  Brook,  I.  176  - 188.     Pierce,  83.  2  Strype's  Parker,  542. 


CH.  XIX.]      THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FIRST  PKIMACY.  537 

"  for  God  and  the  Church  that  his  high  place  re 
quired  of  him  "  ;  or,  in  his  own  words,  "  I  toy  out  my 
time  partly  with  copying  of  books,  partly  in  devis 
ing  ordinances  for  scholars  to  help  the  ministry,  part 
ly  in  genealogies,  &c.  For  I  have  little  help  where  I 
thought  to  have  had  most.  And  thus,  till  Almighty 
God  cometh,  I  repose  myself  in  patience."  * 

Thus  it  appears  from  his  own  pen,  that  the  severe 
policy  of  the  chief  executive  in  the  Church  had  not 
only  excited  the  loud  and  bitter  complaints  of  the 
sufferers,  but  had  given  disgust  to  Churchmen,  and 
even  to  some  of  the  prelates.  One  of  these  was 
probably  Parkhurst,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  whom  the 
Archbishop  charged  with  too  much  lenity,  and  with 
disliking  his  government.  "What  I  am,  and  what 
my  doings  are,"  said  Parkhurst  in  reply,  "  cannot  be 
hidden.  This  I  find  by  good  proof,  that  the  rough 
and  austere  manner  of  ruling  doth  the  least  good ; 
and,  on  the  other  part,  the  contrary  hath  and  doth 
daily  reclaim  and  win  divers.  And  therefore  do  I 
choose  rather  to  continue  my  accustomed  and  natu 
ral  form  and  manner,  which  I  know  how  it  hath  and 
doth  work,  than  with  others  by  rigor  and  extremity 
to  overrule." 2 

The  overthwarting  policy  which  so  sorely  irked 
his  Grace,  is  easily  explained.  The  Lords  of  Council 
had  heard  of  the  death  of  Johnson.  They  began  to 
hear  of  another,  and  another,  and  still  another,  who 
also  fell  victims  to  squalor  and  disease.3  Petition 

1  Strype's  Parker,  478,  compared  this,  Brook  ought  to  have  given  his 
with  Parker's   letters    to  Burleigh,  authority  ;  but  he  does  not.     I  can- 
Appendix,  Nos.  XCV.,  XCIX.  not  suppose,  however,  that  he  would 

2  Strype's  Annals,  HI.  509.  make  so  serious  a  statement  without 

3  Brook,  I.  36.     In  a  case  like    book. 
VOL.  i.  68 


538  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.    [CH.  xix. 

after  petition  was  laid  upon  the  Council  table  from 
others,  who  had  long  been  kept  waiting,  and  who 
were  still  waiting,  for  their  trials  in  prison,  smitten 
with  sickness,  and  like  to  die.  Their  Lordships, 
beginning  to  think,  it  would  seem,  that  the  cries 
which  came  up  to  their  chamber  might  also  go  up 
into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth,  remonstrated 
with  his  Grace  and  the  Commissioners  jointly.  They 
wrote  that  any  lawful  proceedings  against  non-con 
formists,  they  would  countenance  and  aid  •  but  that 
they  would  not  be  implicated  in  such  unreasonable 
imprisonment.  At  the  same  time,  they  desired  the 
Commissioners  to  dispose  of  such  cases,  in  future, 
with  decent  despatch ;  and  that  two  sufferers,  in  par 
ticular,  if  so  sick  that  they  could  not  remain  in 
prison  without  inconvenience,  should  be  liberated  on 
bail  until  they  could  be  tried.  This  missive  was 
unavailing.  Again,  therefore,  they  addressed  the 
Commissioners.  They  also  wrote  to  the  Archbishop 
himself,  stating  that  it  was  her  Majesty's  pleasure 
that  Bonham  and  Standen  —  the  two  referred  to  — 
should  be  set  free,  and  without  trial.1 

For  the  credit  of  her  Majesty,  for  the  credit  of  her 
Council,  for  the  credit  of  the  Anglican  Church  and 
of  humanity,  we  rejoice  to  record  this  interference. 
But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  "  unlawful  "  severities  — 
to  use  the  mildest  term  —  which  made  it  necessary  ? 
What  shall  we  say  of  the  apathy  —  again  to  use 
the  mildest  word  —  which  made  its  repetition  neces 
sary  ?  And  what  shall  we  think  of  the  Primate 
who  would  rather  toy  away  his  time  than  strive 
that  mercy  might  rejoice  against  judgment  ?  Was 

1  Brook,  I.  176  ;  from  Baker's  MS.  Collec.,  Vol.  XXL  p.  384. 


CH.  XIX.]       THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  539 

he  vindictive,  or  was  he  weak  ?  Is  it  charity,  or  is  it 
filial  partiality,  or  is  it  sectarian  blindness,  which 
writes  that  "  his  career  was  distinguished  by  patience 
and  benignity  "  ? l 

But  "  the  most  severe  disciplinarian  of  Elizabeth's 
first  hierarchy  "  2  has  left  on  record  his  own  vindica 
tion.  It  is  fair  to  suppose  it  the  best  which  could 
be  made;  and  therefore  it  should  neither  be  sup 
pressed  nor  forgotten.  It  consists  of  three  points  : 
"  1.  The  vehement  words  of  the  Statute  of  Uniform 
ity  (before  he  was  placed),  by  which  archbishops  and 
bishops  are  charged  to  execute  the  same,  as  they 
would  answer  before  God  • 3  2.  that  he  did  enforce  a 
religion  which  he  knew  in  conscience  to  be  good, 
and  which  was  confirmed  by  public  authority ;  and 
3.  that,  in  enforcing  this  religion,  he  did  but  do  the 
queen's  commandment." 4 

1  Lodge's  Portraits,  II.  No.  17.    they  shall  endeavor  themselves  to 
London,  1840.  •  the  uttermost  of  their  knowledges, 

It  may  be  true,  as  this  same  writer  that  the  due   and   true   execution 

says,  that  "  the  raising  him  without  hereof  may  be  had  throughout  their 

intermediate  steps  to  the   exalted  dioceses  and  charges,  as  they  will 

dignity  which  awaited  him,  was  the  answer   before   God  for  such  evils 

result  of  Elizabeth's  judgment  of  his  and    plagues  wherewith   Almighty 

character " ;    but  it  should   be   re-  God  may  justly  punish  his  people 

membered,  that  he  was  the  third  to  for  neglecting  this  good  and  whole- 

whom  she  offered  the  dignity,  and  some  law." 

the  first  who  would  accept  it.  The  Archbishop  seems   obtusely 

2  Hallam,  110,  note.  to  have  considered  this  charge  to 

3  The    following    is   the    statute,  have  had  the  binding  nature  of  an 
(1  Eliz.  Cap.  II.   Sec.  IV.)     "  For  oath,  or  as  something  very  like  it ; 
due  execution  hereof,  the  queen's  instead  of  being  an  injunction,  or 
most  excellent  Majesty,  the  Lords  adjuration,    so  to  execute   the  act 
Temporal,  and  all  the  Commons,  in  that  they  could  answer  before  God 
this  present  Parliament  assembled,  for  their    behavior,    and    for   just 
do  in  God's  name  earnestly  require  plagues. 

and  charge  all  the  archbishops,  *  Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  p. 
bishops,  and  other  ordinaries,  that  181 ;  Parker  to  Burleigh. 


540  THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.       [Cn.  XIX. 

We  will  not  stop  to  ask  whether  the  Archbishop 
ever  stimulated  the  queen's  choler,  or  prompted  her 
"commandment,"  or  slighted  her  interposition  for 
mercy;  nor  whether  it  was  the  religion  which  he 
knew  to  be  good,  or  the  "  ornaments  "  of  that  religion, 
which  he  enforced  ;  nor  whether  he  did  so  "  execute 
the  statute  as  he  would  answer  before  God."  What 
is  the  purport  of  the  plea  itself?  That  he  had,  of 
his  own  free  will,  committed  himself,  not  only  as  the 
rigid  executive  of  a  statute  written  and  known,  but 
as  the  executive  of  royal  commands  unwritten  and 
unknown.  That,  of  his  own  free  will,  he  had  bound 
himself,  not  only  to  exclude  from  the  offices  and 
emoluments  of  the  Church  those  who  should  not 
conform  to  its  rules  and  uphold  its  polity,  but  even 
to  punish  them  beyond  the  statute,  when  the  queen's 
policy  might  be  furthered  thereby.  That  he  had 
pledged  himself,  not  only  to  sequester  and  punish, 
but  to  punish  every  Englishman  for  preaching  Christ 
in  England,  unless  he  wore  a  livery,  ministered  by  a 
Book,  and  prayed  by  rote.  To  all  this  Archbishop 
Parker  had  deliberately  bound  himself.  Whitehead 
and  Wotton  would  not.1 

We  have  before  spoken  of  the  right  of  a  Church  to 
depose  from  its  offices  the  violators  of  its  rules ;  and 
of  the  right  of  a  civil  government  to  punish  disobe 
dience  of  its  laws.  But  under  the  administration  of 
this  Primate,  uniformity  was  enforced,  not  only  by 
the  penalties  prescribed  by  statute,  but  by  arbitrary 
penalties,  and  for  refusing  arbitrary  requirements, — 
written  neither  in  the  Act  of  Uniformity  nor  in  the 
Act  13  Eliz.  Cap.  XII.  This  was  going  beyond  the 

1  See  ante,  p.  178,  note  1. 


CH.  XIX.J       THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  541 

"  vehement  words."  It  was  being  overmuch  right 
eous,  or  overmuch  wicked.  His  Grace  of  Canterbury 
devised  the  scheme,  and  sustained  it,  even  without 
the  royal  sanction.1  Parkhurst  and  Pilkington,  Hut- 
ton  and  Grindal, —  some  would  not  equal,  none 
would  go  beyond  command. 

In  comparison  with  these  men,  Dr.  Parker  was  in 
tellectually  weak.  He  was  weak  enough  to  write 
that  plea  for  entitling  bishops  "Lords."  He  was 
weak  enough  to  plead  his  mistress's  order  as  decisive 
justification  of  his  acts,  —  weak  enough  not  to  see  dis 
honesty  in  the  forced  construction  of  a  statute.  He 
was  weak  enough  to  think  Puritanism  agrarianism, 
and  the  Puritan  a  Muncer ;  to  be  bereft  of  senses  by 
a  bugbear  plot ;  and  to  fancy  himself,  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  his  order,  a  chief  pillar  of  the  throne. 
He  was  weak  enough  not  to  suspect  that  oppression 
might  make  a  wise  man  mad,  and  force  loyalty  itself 
to  revolution.  And  what  was  it  but  weakness,  and 
the  consciousness  of  weakness,  which  made  him  al 
ways  assign  to  others  the  championship  of  the  Eccle 
siastical  Establishment,  when  he  should  have  entered 
the  lists  himself?  In  all  these  things  we  see  signs 
of  a  weak  and  misty  mind,  and  in  this  natural  in 
firmity,  rather  than  in  a  depraved  moral  sense,  we 
are  content  to  find  the  only  excuse  for  his  illegal 
severities.  They  were  terminated  by  his  death, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years,  on  the  7th  of  May, 
1575.2 

1  Strype's  Parker,  322.  have,  show  that  he  was  far  from 

2  Holingshed,  IV.  327.     Strype's    being  a  clear-headed  man.     These 
Parker,  494.  two  were  written,  to  be  sure,  when 

Archbishop  Parker's  letters,  par-    he  was  sick  ;  but  his  biographer  as- 
ticularly  the    last    two  which    we    sures  us,  that,  to  the  last,  "  he  was 


542 


THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.       [Cn.  XIX. 


With  all  her  faults,  the  Keformed  Church  of  Eng 
land  has  been  stouter,  nobler,  larger-hearted,  larger- 
handed,  has  nourished  more  Christ-like  men  and  more 
Christian  colonies,  than  any  other  division  of  the 


of  a  vigorous  and  perfect  mind  and 
memory."  (p.  494.)  Sandys  com 
plained  to  Parker,  in  a  letter  dated 
October,  1560,  "  I  am  often  put  to  a 
doubtful  interpretation  by  reason  of 
your  sundry  dark  sentences  hard  to 
scan  forth."  (Strype's  Parker,  Ap 
pendix,  p.  25.) 

A  few  instances  are  sufficient  to 
show  how  and  why  he  shrunk  from 
effort  in  the  field  of  religious  po 
lemics.  When  the  Bishop  of  Aqui- 
la,  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  the 
Court  of  Elizabeth,  "  a  bold,  prag 
matical  man,  and  a  great  zealot  for 
the  Pope  and  his  religion,"  sent  to 
Dr.  Parker  through  Sir  William 
Cecil,  then  Secretary  of  State,  a 
sort  of  challenge  to  a  private  passage- 
at-arms  about  religion,  the  Archbish 
op  declined  it,  though  he  offered  to 
substitute,  what  was  not  asked,  sug 
gested,  or  wished,  a  written  con 
troversy.  For  thus  declining,  he 
pleaded  with  Cecil,  that  "  what  with 
passing  those  hard  years  of  Mary's 
reign  in  obscurity,  without  all  con 
ference,"  i.  e.  any  practice  in  dis 
putation,  "  or  such  manner  of  study 
as  might  now  do  me  service,  and 
what  with  my  natural  vitiosity  of 
overmuch  shamefacedness,  I  am  so 
abashed  in  myself,  that  I  cannot 
raise  up  my  heart  and  stomach  to 
utter  in  talk  with  other,  which  (as 
I  may  say)  with  my  pen  I  can  ex 
press  indifferently,  without  great 
difficulty.  Whereupon  this  is  to  re 
quire  "  —  pray  —  "  you,  for  all  love, 
to  help  me  to  shadow  my  cow 


ardice,  ....  and  to  decline  from 
me  such  opportunities,  wherein  I 
should  work  a  lack  to  my  promoters 
and  a  shame  to  myself.  For  the 
ordering,  overseeing,  and  compassing 
common  matters  ecclesiastical,  in 
synod,  or  out  thereof,  among  mine 
acquainted  familiar  brethren,  I 
doubt  not  but,  with  God's  grace  and 
help  of  counsel,  ....  there  my 

stomach  will  stand  by  me 

But  if  ye  drive  me  out  of  this  course, 
....  ye  shall  drive  me  utterly  out 
of  conceit ;  and  then  I  can  do  noth 
ing."  (Strype's  Parker,  Appendix, 
p.  199.) 

Strype  is  apprehensive  that  this 
letter  may  be  construed  as  "betray 
ing  the  Archbishop's  weakness  " ;  but 
like  a  good  biographer,  he  thinks  it 
"rather  shows  his  prudence  and 
great  modesty."  (p.  526.)  Why, 
then,  did  his  Grace  withhold  his  sig 
nature  ;  and  even  close  his  letter  by 
saying,  "  I  pray  you,  lay  not  this 
aside,  but  rather  burn  it,  read  or 
unread,  at  your  pleasure  "  ?  (Ap 
pendix,  p.  200.)  Cecil  did  "  lay  it 
aside,"  and  here  are  we,  treating  it 
very  irreverently,  three  hundred 
years  after ! 

But  the  Archbishop  also  held 
back  from  meeting  in  his  own  per 
son  the  controversial  necessities  of 
that  Church  of  which  he  was,  by 
office,  the  proper  champion ;  not 
even  venturing  to  use  that  pen 
with  which  he  said  he  could  express 
himself  tolerably  well,  without  great 
difficulty.  When  Sanders,  a  Cath- 


CH.  XIX.]        THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  FIKST  PRIMACY. 


543 


Church  Militant  since  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  was 
unsheathed  against  the  Man  of  sin.  When  she  first 
planted  her  foot  successfully  to  do  battle  with  her 
spiritual  foes,  as  solitarily,  as  sturdily,  and  as  long 


olic  writer,  attacked  the  monarchy 
and  Church  of  England,  and  when 
Lord  Burleigh  insisted  with  the 
Archbishop  that  the  book  ought  to 
be  answered,  his  Grace  assigned  the 
task  to  others.  (Strype's  Parker, 
379-383.) 

He  also  held  back  from  meeting 
in  Like  manner  even  his  "  acquainted 
familiar  brethren."  When  the  Pu 
ritans  published  a  book  in  behalf 
of  their  way  of  discipline,  a  book 
which  it  was  necessary  to  answer, 
this  task  also  he  committed  to 
others.  (Ibid.,  480.)  Even  when, 
as  he  conceived,  a  grand  assault 
was  made  upon  the  very  pillars 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  throne, 
by  the  Admonition  to  Parliament,  — 
when  he  apprehended  that,  if  it  was 
not  counteracted,  anarchy  would  be 
in  the  ascendant,  —  he  declined  a 
task  by  no  means  derogatory  to  his 
high  office,  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
employed  Whitgift's  "pen"  instead 
of  his  own. 

In  these  cases,  he  could  not  plead 
the  multifarious  and  pressing  duties 
of  his  archiepiscopate ;  for  during 
the  whole  term  of  his  office  he  had 
large  leisure  for  his  favorite  pastime 
of  antiquarian  researches  and  writ 
ings. 

Strype  insists  that  Parker  was  a 
man  of  "  stomach."  (p.  524.)  For 
no  better  reasons,  that  I  can  find, 
than  these  :  that  he  sometimes  dis 
agreed  with  her  Majesty  ;  that  he 
said  "he  cared  not  for  the  great 
Earl  of  Leicester  "  ;  that  he  said  he 


cared  not  three  points  for  the  Pu 
ritans'  shooting  at  the  bishops," 
(Strype's  Parker,  Appendix,  181,) 
"  nor  three  chips  for  what  Dr.  Chad- 
erton  " —  Chatterer,  he  called  him — 
"  said  about  him."  (Ibid.,  474.)  On 
the  other  hand,  he  had  that  perpet 
ual,  nervous  fear  of  evil  which  does 
not  belong  to  minds  of  a  manly 
order.  He  was  constantly  appre 
hensive  that  himself  and  Burleigh, 
the  hierarchy,  the  nobility,  the 
throne,  were  in  a  common  peril ; 
like  the  petty  constable,  who  fancied 
every  attempt  to  shake  him  an  at 
tempt  to  shake  the  commonwealth. 
A  sham  plot  was  set  on  foot,  pre 
tended  to  be  a  conspiracy  of  the 
Puritans  to  murder  "  himself,  the 
Lord  Treasurer,  and  other  eminent 
personages."  The  object  seems  to 
have  been,  to  scare  his  Grace, 
which  was  effectually  done.  In  his 
fright,  he  wrote  to  Burleigh,  "  This 
horrible  conspiracy  hath  so  aston- 
ied  me,  that  my  will,  my  memory, 
are  quite  gone."  (Strype's  Parker, 
465.)  The  definition  of  a  Puritan, 
recorded  by  Sir  John  Harrington, "  a 
Protestant  scared  out  of  his  wits,"  is 
thus  proved  to  be  false.  (Nugae  An- 
tiquae,  II.  21.) 

With  these  facts  in  view,  together 
with  his  Grace's  argument  for  the 
lordship  of  bishops,  the  reader  can 
measure  for  himself  the  intellectual 
calibre  of  Archbishop  Parker. 

It  is  noticeable,  that  in  the  publi 
cations  of  the  Parker  Society  we 
have  no  volume  of  "  Remains  of 


544  THE   CLOSE   OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.        [Ce.  XIX. 

as  her  islet  sanctuary  has  with  the  untiring  sea, 
God  placed  Matthew  Parker  at  her  van.  The  weak 
things  of  the  world  hath  God  chosen  to  confound 
the  things  that  are  mighty;  and  they  are  to  be 
honored  for  their  honor,  not  despised  for  their 
weakness,  or  pecked  at  for  their  faults.  If,  then, 
for  his  election  of  God  only,  we  write  his  name 
with  respect,  but  write  no  praise  of  the  man,  do 
we  therefore  wrong  ?  Do  we  sin,  in  that  we  scruti 
nize  and  unveil  his  weakness  ?  Rather,  do  we  not 
herein  magnify  the  power  and  grace  of  Him  who 
chose  to  sustain,  under  such  a  primate,  a  Church 
destined  to  so  glorious  a  history  ?  Nor  shall  we 
sin,  if  we  doubt  whether  —  with  the  same  modicum 
of  endowments,  in  the  same  high  position,  under 
the  same  unnatural  and  perplexing  combination  of 
Church  and  State,  under  the  same  mistress,  and  in 
the  same  uncertain  twilight  —  we  should  have  done 
better.  That  we  ought  and  might,  there  can  be 
no  question. 

The  close  of  this  prelate's  life  brings  us  to  a  point 
where  we  naturally  pause,  to  review  the  ground  over 

Archbishop    Parker,"    other    than  rogative  of  God.     By  the  nature  of 

ordinary  letters.  things,   the  power  of  sovereigns  is 

confined  to   external    government. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  here  adding  They  have  no  right  of  punishment 
what  might  more  fitly  have  been  but  over  those  who  disturb  the  pub- 
introduced  elsewhere,  the  remark-  lie  peace,  of  which  they  are  the 
able  words  of  Theodoric  the  Ostro-  guardians.  The  most  dangerous 
goth,  king  of  Italy  at  the  close  of  heresy  is  that  of  a  sovereign  who 
the  fifth  century,  in  a  letter  to  the  separates  from  himself  a  part  of  his 
Emperor  Justin,  —  words  so  nobly  subjects,  because  they  believe  not 
in  contrast  with  the  policy  of  Queen  according  to  his  belief." 
Elizabeth: —  Milman's  note  to  p.  16,  Vol.  III. 

"  To  pretend  to  a  dominion  over  of  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  (8vo 

the  conscience,  is  to  usurp  the  pre-  edit.,  New  York,  1847). 


CH.  XIX.]        THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  FIRST   PRIMACY.  545 

which  we  have  passed,  before  entering  upon  the  ex 
citing  and  even  tragic  scenes  which  are  before  us. 

We  have  noted  the  small  beginning  of  Puritan 
ism,  and  thence  have  traced  its  progress  and  growth 
until  its  features  were  well  defined,  its  form  de 
veloped,  and  its  several  positions,  offensive  and  de 
fensive,  were  avowed  and  recognized.  At  first  but 
little  more  than  a  religious  scruple,  it  soon  became 
a  fixed  principle,  —  an  uncompromising  antagonism 
to  Popery,  based  upon  clear  and  Scriptural  convic 
tions.  This  principle,  under  the  pressure  of  com 
pulsion,  brought  into  action,  not  indeed  any  well- 
defined  doctrine  of  natural  right,  but  that  latent 
consciousness  of  it  which  spiritual  despotism  had 
smothered  for  centuries,  and  which  so  inheres  in 
every  man  that  savage  wrong  will  sometimes  rouse 
it  to  resistance  even  in  the  most  abject  slave.  The 
religious  principle,  sustained  and  stimulated  by  this 
awakened  instinct,  soon  expanded  into  a  political 
one.  It  -went  out  from  the  vestry  and  the  chancel 
to  the  Parliament-House  and  the  Council  Board ; 
and  thus  Puritanism  became  the  personification  — 
and  the  only  one  —  of  religious  and  civil  liberty,  — 
of  liberty  questioning,  confronting,  withstanding,  the 
lordship  of  the  hierarchy  and  the  wanton  despot 
ism  of  the  crown.  In  1575,  it  was  no  longer  a 
whim  to  be  despised,  or  a  naughtiness  to  be  whipped, 
but  a  doctrine  to  be  feared,  a  heresy  to  be  rooted 
out.  The  State  had  girded  up  its  loins  and  put 
on  its  harness  to  do  battle  with  the  Puritan. 

Had  he  made  all  this  ado  only  for  the  sake  of 
trifles?  In  1550,  it  was  charged  that  he  did.  It 
was  so  charged  during  Elizabeth's  reign.  It  has 

VOL.  i.  69 


546  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.      [Cn.  XIX. 

been  so  charged  without  cessation  for  three  hun 
dred  years,  until  the  eye  is  tired  of  reading,  and 
the  ear  of  hearing.  We  will  not  argue  the  point. 
Nor  will  we  repeat  what  we  have  said  about  it 
in  a  previous  chapter.  Let  us  simply  look  at  it 
with  the  eye  of  common  sense,  and  in  the  light  of 
facts  already  recited. 

When  the  discipline  of  the  Queen's  Commissioners 
became  rank ;  when  their  appliances  became  "  sharp 
corrosives "  ;  when  they  overstepped  the  statutes ; 
when  they  demanded  a  subscription  and  a  promise  not 
authorized  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  or  by  the  act 
to  reform  disorders  touching  ministers  of  the  Church, 
or  by  any  other  act,  either  of  heaven  above  or  of 
the  earth  beneath ;  when  they  punished,  not  for  non 
conformity,  but  for  non-subscription,  and  without 
authority  of  Parliament,  or  queen,  or  God ;  when 
they  ransacked  thoughts  and  scourged  opinions; 
when  they  required  men  to  take  oath  that  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  in  the  Church  of  England 
was  sound  and  sincere,  that  her  order  of  administer 
ing  the  Sacraments  was  consonant  to  the  Word  of 
God,  and  that  there  was  nothing  repugnant  to  that 
Word  in  her  Book  of  Common  Prayer ;  —  were  these 
things  trifles  ?  Can  we,  with  any  pretence  of  reason, 
call  him  a  contemptible  stickler  for  trifles,  who,  in 
such  a  case,  resented  illegal  punishment,  refused 
illegal  requisitions,  and  preferred  disobedience  to 
perjury  ? 

"But  these  things  are  not  in  point." 

Nevertheless,  they  are  facts, —  burning,  damning, 
—  and  not  to  be  forgotten. 

"  They  were  consequences  of  obstinacy  about  trifles." 


CH.  XIX.]       THE   CLOSE   OF   THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  547 

Sequences,  —  granted. 

"  The  root  of  the  matter,  the  beginning  of  the  con 
tention,  was  about  trifles." 

By  no  means.  Look  back.  When  Elizabeth  came 
to  the  throne,  her  political  horizon  was  different 
from  that  of  her  brother  Edward.  The  Papal  See 
was  ravenous  for  domination  in  England.  A  devotee 
of  Eome  was  next  heir  to  the  crown,  and  Komish 
princes,  with  fleets  and  armies,  were  eager  to  place 
it  on  her  head.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
Catholic  element  in  Elizabeth's  realm  was  a  danger 
ous  one.  To  conciliate  her  Catholic  subjects,  was, 
therefore,  a  fundamental  maxim  of  her  policy.  It 
was  of  the  first  political  importance  to  reduce,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  visible  differences  between  the  Church 
of  England  and  the  Eomish.  Elizabeth  therefore 
reversed  the  policy  of  her  brother,  which  had  been  to 
recede  by  little  and  little,  but  still  to  recede,  from 
all  resemblance  to  Kome.  She  adopted  such  "  orna 
ments  of  religion"  as  he  had  ordained  by  his  first 
book,  because  those  ordained  by  his  second  were 
not  Papistical  enough.  She  strove,  until  she  found 
it  impracticable,  to  fix  celibacy  upon  her  clergy,  be 
cause  otherwise  they  would  not  be  Papistical  enough.1 
She  kept  the  crucifix  and  other  symbols  in  her  pri 
vate  chapel,  lest  she  herself  should  not  seem  Papis 
tical  enough.  All  this  complaisance  to  Rome,  all 
this  retaining  of  Papistical  features  in  the  national 
Church,  —  the  cap,  the  tippet,  the  surplice,  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  kneeling  at  the  sacramental  supper,  and 
a  form  of  administering  it  which  should  not  contra 
dict  the  doctrine  of  the  corporal  presence,  —  all  and 

1  Stiype's  Parker,  107,  109,  Appendix,  No.  XVII.  p.  30. 


548  THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.       [Cn.  XIX 

each  were  of  vital  importance  to  her  policy.  Should 
they  be  uniformly  adopted  and  sustained  throughout 
the  realm,  there  would  be  little,  if  anything,  in  what 
ever  would  strike  the  eye  or  the  ear  of  the  Catholic, 
to  offend  his  prejudices. 

In  other  words,  Elizabeth,  far  from  considering 
these  externals  of  dress  and  ceremony  trifling,  es 
teemed  them  of  great  political  importance ;  of  polit 
ical  importance,  because  they  had  religious  influence, 
because  they  were  Romish,  consorted  with  Romish 
dogmas,  gratified  Romish  habits,  and  fostered  Romish 
superstition.  Hence  it  was,  and  hence  only,  that  from 
the  moment  she  felt  her  throne  to  be  firm,  she  be 
came  strenuous  that  these  Papistical  features  of  her 
Ecclesiastical  Establishment  should  not  be  suffered  to 
relax, "  that  none  should  be  suffered  to  decline,  either 
on  the  left  hand  or  on  the  right  hand,  from  the  direct 
line  limited  by  authority  of  her  laws  and  injunc 
tions  " ;  and  hence  it  was,  that  when  her  religious 
ordinances  were  approached,  she  was  ever  quick  to 
rouse  her  prerogative  of  supremacy,  and  ever  hot, 
imperious,  and  choleric  in  using  it. 

In  her  eyes,  the  rites,  the  ceremonies,  the  vest 
ments  of  her  Church  had  not  acquired  importance 
because  ordained  by  law ;  but  were  ordained  by  law 
because  they  had  importance, —  because  they  had 
a  specific  character  and  a  specific  gravity. 

Upon  these  two  points,  then,  the  queen  and  the  Pu 
ritan  ivere  agreed ;  viz.  that  the  things  ordained  had 
an  important  influence,  and  that  this  influence  was 
Papistical.  Each  recognized  a  Papistical  likeness  — 
and  so  did  the  Papist  —  in  the  rites,  and  in  the  con 
stitution  also,  of  the  English  Church.  Each  regarded 


CH.  XIX.]       THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  FIRST  PRIMACY.  549 

it  as  of  fundamental  importance  ;  the  one,  to  the 
Crown  and  Church  of  England ;  the  other,  to  the 
Crown  and  Church  of  Christ.  Upon  this  estimate  of 
cap  and  surplice  did  the  State  covertly  rely  to  jus 
tify  its  pertinacity.  Upon  the  same  did  the  Puritan 
openly  rely  to  justify  his.  In  regard  to  these  mat 
ters,  they  differed  only  as  the  policy  of  the  world 
differs  from  the  policy  of  the  Gospel.  The  one  was 
right,  religiously ;  the  other,  as  the  world  goes,  po 
litically.  In  the  opinion  of  each,  the  things  about 
which  they  contended  were  tvorth  contending  for ; 
they  were  anything  under  heaven  hit  trifles.  The 
cap  was  more  than  woollen.  The  surplice  was  more 
than  linen.  The  Puritan  was  fantastical,  and  a  stick 
ler  for  trifles,  just  as  much  as  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
no  more. 

Calling   a   man  a  Nazarene  does  not  make   him 
one.     He  may  have  been  born  in  Bethlehem. 


END    OP    VOL.    I. 


^V^::'*A   i:"i:>v*? 

111111 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


LO 

UN      I 


L""?ARY  USE 


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D 

GOT  o  - 1959 


16  No' 


K 

NOV    21961 

•  *  \*          '  ^ 


JU^    v  76 


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